I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt.  I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon (Proverbs 7:16-17).

Who would have thought that the Bible could read like the cover of a Cosmopolitan magazine?  Yet here it is, plain to see in chapter 7:  Four Multi-Sensory Ways to Spice Up Your Sex Life!

Yes, the context of Proverbs 7 is adultery -- so we need to exercise some caution in considering the text as any sort of model for us -- but I think it is instructive to consider some of the reasons WHY an illicit relationship might seem so enticing and then see if there are any cross-over truths that can be applied to the marriage bed.  And in the case of Proverbs 7:16, I really think that there are.  Namely, it seems that there is something extremely powerful about multi-sensory sexual experiences.  Sex is not just something involving the sense of touch (though this is, of course, an essential part of the experience); it also feeds off of the senses of sight, sound, smell, and taste.  When multiple senses are involved in sex, its allure becomes even stronger than in a purely tactile experience.

Proverbs 7:16 speaks of a bed covered with colored linens from Egypt, scented with exotic smells like myrrh and aloes and cinnamon -- which, from my way of thinking, may have also involved the sense of taste -- and it combined with verbal cues and the obvious tactile element to create an almost irresistible invitation to "drink of deep of love until morning."  And even though these stimuli are used for unfortunate purposes in Proverbs 7 (seducing someone into the act of adultery), doesn't it seem like there could also be something valuable there for enriching and enhancing the expression of God-honoring, heart-stopping, mutually-pleasurable sex within the context of marriage as well?!?

Too many married couples slip into "auto-pilot" when it comes to their sexual relationship.  It becomes something less-than-creative, less-than-fully-stimulating, less-than-fulfilling.  But why should it only have to be the adulterers who get to spice things up with colored sheets and sensual aromas?  These same senses are available to us married people as well -- and we might as well make the most of them.  Don't you think?