“The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love, he will exult over you with singing”(Zephaniah 3:17).
When my son was born, one of the story books his mother, and I enjoyed reading to him was Robert Munsch’s classic I’ll Love You Forever.
Unlike Munsch’s other books, which lean more toward the silly than the emotive, this book is a beautiful story of the love between a parent and child.
In this story, a mother accompanies her son through the course of his life, always singing the same song: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” This song surrounds the child’s life.
We have many images of God. God is the High King of Heaven, the Mighty Judge, the Everlasting Father. These images convey the unrivaled strength and power of God. But tucked into the pages of Zephaniah is a beautiful depiction of the Lord as one who sings.
Like a parent singing over a sleeping child, the Lord surrounds us in song. This describes the tender compassion of God and the radical intimacy that the Lord extends to us. The song of the Lord is the soundtrack of our lives.
What lessons might we glean from the fact that God sings over us? How does this verse help us recognize the truth of who God is and what God provides? Below are four important truths the Lord’s song reveals.
1. God Is with Us
The presence of God can be easy to dismiss. In times of difficulty or discouragement, we may feel that God’s presence is removed from our lives.
Or, if we are new to the faith, we may feel that God’s presence is but a reward for godly behavior. If we step out of line or sin too many times, God will cast us from God’s presence.
This is not true. In this passage, Zephaniah reminds Israel that despite all the ways they turned their backs on God, God’s loving presence remained. “The Lord your God is with you,” Zephaniah writes. As children of God, we are never abandoned by the Lord, the Lord is for us.
God’s presence, however, is not that of a bystander. God is not inert or inactive in our lives. In fact, God’s presence is inseparable from God’s activity. Because God is with us, God acts for us.
This is why Zephaniah declares that the one who is with us is the one who is mighty to save. As people of God, we can be confident that the saving work of the Lord surrounds us.
Where might you be experiencing the activity of God in your life? Where might God’s presence be leading you? What battle is the Lord fighting for you?
2. God Loves Us
God’s presence is inseparable from God’s love. God’s love in our lives is not based on our strength or prowess; we do not deserve it or earn it. God loves us because we are made in God’s image. Thus, our belovedness is a fact of our existence.
Henri Nouwen once wrote, “Because we are alive, we are loved.” Regardless of how we may see ourselves or how others may view us, our identity as one made in God’s image remains. As the children of God, Zephaniah declares that God takes great delight in us.
The love of God is sung over us every single moment of our lives, and that song combats every lie of the enemy. “God is love,” writes John, “and those who live in love, live in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16).
The Lord's song is, therefore, an expression of our belovedness. At the end of the day, beyond any doubt or distress, God longs for us to live in unrestricted intimacy with our creator. This truth stands as the very foundation of who we are as Christian people.
What might it look like for you to open your life to the Lord’s song of love for you? God’s love is unfading and everlasting. Furthermore, there is nothing in heaven or earth that will separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39). Christ’s work on the cross secures God’s eternal love for us.
3. God Redeems Us
The love-filled song of the Lord renews us. The song of the Lord declares redemption as a fact of our lives. Zephaniah writes, “He will exult you with singing.” Exultation is an image of resurrection, a lifting up of ourselves to a new life.
When God sings God’s song of love over us, we are raised to new life. We are renewed in the love of God and live under the Lord’s victory. The song of the Lord reminds us that redemption is a gift based on God’s ceaseless love for us.
What is expressed in this Old Testament prophecy is fully revealed in Jesus Christ. On the cross, Jesus shattered the chains of sin and death and liberated us from every spiritual weight that tempts us.
The Apostle Paul writes that on the cross, “God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4).
Death has been destroyed under the mighty act of Christ, and in its place stands forgiveness and grace.
Thus, the song of the Lord reminds us of God’s faithful promise. Redemption is never removed from our lives. We can be confident in our inheritance of everlasting life because this is held in the nail-pierced hands of Christ and sealed in his blood.
4. God Invites Us to Sing with Him
When we look at Zephaniah’s description of the Lord’s song, we find an intriguing element. The passage which describes God singing over us begins with an invitation to Israel to sing.
The passage begins, “Sing O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud of Israel, be glad rejoice with all your heart” (3:14). As people of faith, we are called to join God’s song.
The song of the Lord is to be taken into our lives and absorbed; it is to become part of us and influence how we live our lives. The song that God sings over us is to unlock our own song. God’s song is a duet, not a solo.
A duet involves interaction, preparation, and intimacy. It demands that we listen to what is sung before us.
Like any duet, there are times when we lend our voice, and there are times when we are called to listen to the other singer — to be informed by the other voice. God invites us to participate in the kingdom song that God sings over us and over the world.
This is a good picture of our life with God. We are called to participate in God’s kingdom, to be active agents in the ministry of redemption and reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18).
The song of the Lord calls us forward in faith and action. Thus, the song we sing is a witness for others. Our song helps others discover the one who will comfort and relieve them amid all the ups and downs of life.
For further reading:
What Can We Learn from the Song of Songs?
What Is the Meaning of the Lord's Prayer?
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