"The LORD your God is with you,-Zephaniah 3: 17 (NIV, 1984)
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
Many people know the first part of the verse, popularized in the worship song, "Mighty to Save." But there is so much more to be found in this small gem, this small promise God made to Israel and to us than a song title.
Take the next three lines. "He will take great delight in you/He will quiet you with his love/He will rejoice over you with singing." Three facts about God and his affections for me are shown here and they amaze me.
First, God takes delight in me. I have thought many times, "Yes, God loves me, he takes delight in me, he created me, yada, yada, yada." But the wonder is that God, a Being utterly complete in and of Himself, decided to create me and delights in His creation of me. And in me, myself! Now, that point, wonderful as it is, happens to be only the beginning.
Next it says, "He will quiet you with his love." The only idea I can think of that is similar to this is a picture, or a snippet of time. After falling down or getting hurt in some way, I would go to my mother or father, crying in pain. The they would pick me up, put my head on their shoulder, pat me on the back and say, "Sshh! It's okay. I've got you now." They would continue to say that until I calmed down, simply holding me.
God says that He will do the same for us, for me. When I hurt, when I am in pain, I can go to my Father. I can go to God, the Creator of the universe, the Great I AM, and He will hold me in his arms, calm me and whisper to my soul, "It will be okay. Don't worry. I've got you now." He loves us and wants to be there for us. For me. For you. It's astounding!
But that's not all. Look at the last line. "He will rejoice over you with singing." Now, first off, when I read this. I think of God singing literally over me in Heaven, in some abstract way. I distance myself from Him. But that's not what it says. In the original Hebrew, the word "over" used in this verse can be a preposition of place, meaning where in space God is singing, but it also can mean "because of." Look at it this way. "He will rejoice with singing, because of you."
God loves you so much He bursts into song whenever he looks at you! He can't contain the joy He finds in loving you.
I read this and I am amazed. God loves me that much? But I thought he was always dignified, slightly aloof, or at least not given to bursting out in song at random. But that's not the image of God portrayed here. Here, God is shown to be a Lover, a Father and a Creator. Not just words, but images, pictures describing Him.
God's love overwhelms me. I can only hope as I grow in Him and learn more that I continue to be overwhelmed by His love.
Holy is He and most worthy of praise.
Something really powerful to me, out of what you said, is that no matter how messed up I am or my opinion in myself, God himself says that He takes delight in me, He takes DELIGHT in me, that is massive, that is insane. Moreover, He doesn't only delight in me sometimes, when I can't stand me, He still has delight in seeing me, in loving me, and in me. I really can't understand that, it boggles my mind.
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