I'm not going to hold you long today. I just wanted to share a verse with you that excited me. A verse that brought me joy. A verse that just makes my heart swell. Perhaps it will do the same for you…
The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
(Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV)
I... I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with the beginning of the verse. It says "The LORD your God in your midst". Without further ado, we can stop and rejoice with the very first phrase. God is in our midst. That, by itself, is enough to make me rejoice, but let's continue.
It then states, "The Mighty One, will save". NIV translation states, "the Mighty Warrior". NASB states, "a victorious warrior". Imagine God as our warrior, our champion. Sure, we have earthly warriors that wowed us, like Leonidas (from the movie 300) and King David. But imagine God, the creator of Leonidas and King David, going to war for us—saving us. My Lord! I don't have the words, and I'm a writer! Let's continue.
"He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love." Okay so, who am I, who are you, that God would rejoice over us? What is there to rejoice about? Why rejoice over dirt? Sinful dirt at that. But then again, who am I to tell God what to rejoice over?
I'm reminded of the conversation between Jesus and Peter in John 13 when Jesus was washing the disciples' feet. Peter, thinking he was unworthy, said to Jesus “you will never wash my feet”. To which Jesus replied, “If I do not wash your feet, you will have no part with me.” Peter didn’t understand why the Messiah would wash their feet, and before Jesus even began to wash Peter’s feet, Jesus said “you do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
I may not understand why a holy and divine God will rejoice over you and me. But if He said it, I trust His wisdom to do so. But y’all… the next couple of phrases is what really got me. It says, “He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
… Say what now? Are you serious right now, God? First of all, you sing?? That’s news—good news—to me. And secondly, you would sing over me? Do you know how much someone delights in you, loves you, to sing over you? How sweet the melody of God’s song must be!
I am in tears, tears of joy and awe, as I type this because dear reader, are you hearing this? God sings! And He sings over us! My Lord! But let’s backtrack for a moment before we close. The text says, “He will quiet you with His love”.
His love is so sweet, so powerful, so overwhelming, that it’ll silence you. As I stated earlier, I am without words. I cannot express how blown away I am at Him and at His Word. Indeed, He has hushed me. I am so quieted that all I can do is be still and rest and Him. And if I were to utter anything at all, it would only be “Amen”.
That’s all I have for you today. I pray that this verse blesses you the way it blessed me, if not more so. Y’all have a blessed day! If it’s His will, I’ll see you next week. ‘Til then, take care.
Quin Arrington is a Christian Wife, Mother, Writer and Author. Her books are available on Amazon at www.amazon.com/author/quinarrington