"The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)
As you know, my quest is now to find and be filled with the joy of the Lord. Having known His peace and His rest, I now seek His joy. Unbeknownst to my church's music leader, she brought up this verse this morning during the service. Ever since someone else I used to know showed me this verse, it has haunted me - it has been always in the back of my mind. Thank you, Sherri, for reminding me this morning of this beautiful message from God through the prophet.
I am familiar with the Lord my God being mighty and of His salvation. But the thought of God Himself (through His Son, Jesus Christ) rejoicing over me with joy - that is just amazing! This ties in with another one of my favorite teachings of scripture (which I will addressin more detail in another devotional) - that God daydreams of being with me. How awesome is that?
What a different feeling I now have than when I was younger. Back then, Jesus was WAY UP THERE, and I was way down here. The idea that He could hear the prayers of millions of people daily and respond to each one individually was mind-blowing to me. Surely He would get distracted sometimes by someone else's needs or actions and that would give me the freedom to slip something past Him. But no! He is constantly watching over you and me individually, constantly, watching over us with joy! Wow!
Every major translation of this verse agrees with the overall tone and message it brings. Not only does Jesus watch over us as a Savior and Rescuer, but He actually rejoices over us - over the times we obey Him, over the times we thank Him, over the times we share His love in big and little ways with others. As I was growing up, my mom (especially) drilled it into my head that I'd better behave myself because God was always watching - and He would get me! Needless to say, I grew up with a very distorted and perverted view of God. I literally lived my life in fear of screwing up and having a giant hand come down out of heaven and swat me for every little infraction. To sort of assuage that fear, I was told to pray that God would forgive me of all my sins - known and unknown - daily so that God would be honor-bound to forgive me. That doesn't seem to mesh with the picture this verse gives us of our relationship with Him.
Don't get me wrong, we are commanded to be holy even as He is holy. And yes, He does still want us to strive for perfection - even though that is seemingly impossible living in this world. Yet Christ showed us how if we will but follow His example. In my military training as well as my business training, I have been taught to praise and reward the good acts publicly and correct the bad or negative ones privately. That's why we are to get alone with God constantly - so He can give us correction and direction. But oh, the joy of having Him reward you publicly!!!
Today I encourage you to love the Lord, to thank Him for His goodness, to worship Him for His holiness, and to listen for that voice singing over you, that sound of Jesus rejoicing over you.
Be blessed.
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