Verse of the Day 1/2

Verse of the Day 1/2      

 

Zephaniah 3:17  For the Lord your God is living among you.
    He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
    With his love, he will calm all your fears.
    He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."  New Living Translation (NLT)

 

As I was coming to the end of my reading in the Old Testament for the year I read today's verse and what struck me was the thought that "He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."  Step back and think about that.  The Creator and Lord of the universe delights in you and "will rejoice over you".  We may not often hear someone singing songs of rejoicing over us, perhaps we hear it on our birthday when family and friends sing "Happy birthday".  This is sung once a year, but the Lord can rejoice over us any day of the year as we serve Him and are faithful to Him.

 

The other thing about having others singing happy birthday to us is that it is normally associated with gifts or at least best wishes for the one who is being honored with the song.  Think of how happy you feel when you give gifts to your kids or grandkids, especially when it is something that they've been longing for.  The gifts are given without demands and the receiver of the gifts is not laboring for the gifts, otherwise they would not be gifts.

 

John Piper writes, "God is not looking for people to work for Him, so much as He is looking for people who will let Him work for them…. The gospel commands us to give up and hang out a help-wanted sign (this is the basic meaning of prayer). Then the gospel promises that God will work for us if we do. He will not surrender the glory of being the Giver."

 

As we continue into this new year, may we daily be aware that He is living among us and in us. That He is a mighty Savior who has redeemed us, delight in us, calms our fears, and rejoices over us.

 

Lord of Eternity
Blessed is the man
Who walks in Your favor
Who loves all Your words
And hides them like treasure
In the darkest place
Of his desperate heart,
They are a light
A strong, sure light.

 

Lord of Eternity,
Father of mercy,
Look on my fainting soul.
Keeper of all the stars,
Friend of the poorest heart
Touch me and make me whole.

 

If You are my defender,
Who is against me?
No one can trouble or harm me
If You are my strength .
All I ask, all I desire
Is to live in Your house all my days.  (Lord of Eternity – Fernando Ortega)

--   In Christ,  Mike    Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com  Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,  in accordance with the riches of God's grace.  NIV

 

Zephaniah 3:14-17 New King James Version (NKJV)

Joy in God's Faithfulness

¹⁴ Sing, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵ The Lord has taken away your judgments,
He has cast out your enemy.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
You shall ^[a]see disaster no more.

¹⁶ In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
"Do not fear;
Zion, let not your hands be weak.
¹⁷ 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."