God Loves to Sing!

Click Here to Read or Listen to the One Year Bible Readings 

For the Lord your God is living among you.

    He is a mighty savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

    With his love, he will calm all your fears.

    He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17

Most of what the prophet Zephaniah has said up to this point relates to God's judgment against His own people, Judah, and the pagan nations around them like Philistia, Moab, and Ammon. But then in chapter 3, the prophet tells of a "remnant" who God has set apart for himself who he would restore. This remnant will be "lowly" and "humble" and "trust in the name of the Lord". 3:12

In verse 3:17 we see the heart of God for His chosen people. First, we see that God comes to live among them. This is no small thing given the atrocities the people had committed by offering worship to pagan gods and refusing to turn back to Him after He corrected them. We know ultimately God came to dwell in our midst through sending his Son to become one of us. 

Next, it says that God is a "mighty Savior". He has the power to save. Though the other nations seemed powerful, they were nothing compared to an all powerful God. God allowed and used foreign nations to discipline his people, but nothing they did happened apart from God's sovereignty and plan. 

I love this, "He will take delight in you with gladness."  God not only accepted and had mercy on His people, but he "delighted" in them. Since I have two children, I know this sense of delighting over them. It is wonderful to think that God feels the same way when He looks at me and you, His children.  

"We often underestimate the joy God has in His people, and too often think God is annoyed or irritated with us." - Guzik

God will calm our fears with "His love". 1 John 4:18 says, "Perfect love cast out all fear!" We are usually anxious when we are trying to please someone who is not easily pleased. Or, we are afraid of angering someone in authority over us. Or, we are afraid to make a mistake which anger or disappoint someone. But perfect love, God's love, has nothing to do with punishment. Even when God disciplines us it is out of love. This is an aspect of God that is sorely missing in the world's view of God. As we seek to share Him with the world, His unconditional love for us is our gospel, which was fulfilled in His Son, Jesus. 

Finally, God actually delights in us so much, He sings over us! 

We don’t often think of God singing, but He does – and He sings over His people. This is how much joy and delight we give to the LORD – that He breaks into song! - Guzik 

“Think of the great Jehovah singing! Can you imagine it? Is it possible to conceive of the Deity breaking into a song: Father, Son and Holy Ghost together singing over the redeemed? God is so happy in the love which he bears to his people that he breaks the eternal silence, and sun and moon and stars with astonishment hear God chanting a hymn of joy.” (Spurgeon)

Take a moment to bask in these qualities of God's love, care, and delight in you. If you have things going on in your life that don't please Him, confess them to him, and then respond to the great love he has for you by loving others the way he loves you! 



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