Rejoicing Over Us With Singing

The LORD your God is with you,
   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.

Zephaniah 3:17

 I don't actually remember the first time I heard this verse quoted to me, but I remember that I caught my breath at the very thought of it.  It seems so pat to say "the Lord God is with you', but it is staggering in its implications.  Think of the people, just a few of them, who the Lord God claimed to 'be with'.

The bush was burning but not consumed...

There was Moses.  Moses who, in hindsight, seemed so silly at times, shoeless before a burning bush in the desert, arguing with God because he didn't speak well, trying to wriggle out of being God's spokesman before Pharaoh (Exodus 3). Then, when he finally comes to realize what it means when God said 'I will be with you' (Ex. 3:12),  went on to be a great leader of Israel and close confidant of God, the Creator of the Universe. Remember the days he spent with God, how he and God spoke back and forth with each other in such frankness?  How his face was so radiant after spending days with the Creator that he covered it because it was scaring the people? (Ex. 34) That's a BIT of the joy to have the Lord God with you.

And David had the Lord God with him when, even as a youth, he came out with a sling and five smooth stones before a giant that had seasoned soldiers quaking in their boots.  He was buoyed up by the courage that comes from true faith in his God.  “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”   (1 Samuel 17:45-47)  This is what happens when the Lord your God is with you.  You can speak with that sort of confidence and KNOW it is Truth.

"I am with you always, even to the end

..."

I could fill pages, of course, with all of those recorded in Scripture who have known the presence of God within.  People like Gideon, Esther, Joshua, Abraham, Ruth, Peter, Paul, Stephen, John, Mary, the mother of Jesus -- and so the list goes on.  And we, if we know Him with a personal faith, may add our names as well!  He has promised to be with us, every moment, every day, in good times and through adversity, he has promised to be with us ..... and so He is.  This means He is with us, even if He FEELS far away, or if it seems our prayers bounce back to us off the ceiling.  If God has said He will be faithful, then He will be.  Have no doubts, no fears!

Zephaniah also points out that God will take great delight in me. In you. He is enchanted with you. With each of us.  I need Him to do that, you know, taking delight, I mean.  Because not enough people in this life treat us as well as God does, and it's not exactly their fault. So many of us are too busy licking our own wounds from the beating the world gives us to really care for each other as we should.  Though, perhaps if we did look up, we'd feel a good bit better about our lives.  "Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus", the Bible says, "the Author and finisher of our faith!" (Hebrews 12:2)

When I read this verse I get a beautiful picture in my mind of being cradled in God's arms, just like a weeping, hurting, or confused child.  The arms of a God who loves and accepts and cherishes me, even if I'm at times rather very unlovable.  He takes joy in me, and quiets my tears, and even my fussing about the way life is so unjust.  And He rejoices over me, over His creation, with singing.  He takes pleasure in me, His child! 

Now, as a child of God, put yourself there, mentally, in His arms.  He rejoices and sings over you, as well!

One more verse, and I'll let this go.  "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."   (Ephesians 2:10)

I am told that to properly translate this verse, we mustn't think of "workmanship" as a rough chair or table a primitive carpenter may have made, or even a vintage cabinet that would make it onto Antiques Roadshow.  No, it is more in the spirit of a MASTERPIECE -- a Monet painting, a Van Gogh, a Michelangelo's top of the Sistine Chapel, something from a master craftsman.  Something that would awe you with its beauty, that would move you to praise for its Maker.  That's the kind of WORKMANSHIP and MASTERPIECE God is forming us to be.  Something that even makes the angels wonder.

And He laughs and delights and sings over us at each stage of his work, from our beginning rough edges right through to the day of our perfection. 

Delightful!