The Lord your God is in your midst,
A victorious warrior.
He will rejoice over you with joy,
He will be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice (singing) over you with shouts of joy. Zephaniah 3:17 NASB
So often when we think of God’s love for us, we see it in a mental picture of Jesus with kind eyes, longing to give us a loving touch with His nail scared hands and telling us He loves us. But lately I keep returning to today’s verse. To me it is a picture of other ways God shows His love for us.
It begins by saying He is in our midst. How much more is that true today than when it was written, because of the cross, and the indwelling of Holy Spirit He now lives in every Believer! He then is painted as a victorious warrior, meaning that there is nothing that comes against us will destroy us. It may hinder and even hurt us, but never destroy us because we are protected by our Mighty Warrior.
Now it changes and we are told He is rejoicing over us with joy, yes, even in our times of failures and shakey faith, Because He sees us as He sees Jesus, He can do nothing less. It is His love for Jesus that we have accepted that now He also see us as His beloved children with whom He is well pleased. Notice He isn’t shouting, yelling or speaking harshly, instead He has quietness and peace in His heart that He looks at us with eyes of unconditional love. A look that encompasses everything we need to receive all He has to offer.
I love this last phrase, although this translation uses the word rejoice, the Hebrew word is Ashirah which means singing in the simple imperfect form. It is songs that flow freely deep from the heart of joy, a rejoicing. Think about that, God is so pleased with us that He can’t help but sing for joy over us. Wow! How empowering is that thought! Even when we’re feeling rejected, not good enough, defeated, and all those negative thoughts, to think that Almighty God our Abba is so filled love for us that He can’t help but sing for joy over us.
Oh how God sings love songs over us, and we are so influenced by the things of this world that we can’t hear it and we miss this wonderful 24/7/365 blessing. Get off the world’s hampster wheel of business, comparison and destruction, be still and listen to God’s song He’s singing just for you and receive the refreshing and empowerment it brings!!
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