He rejoices over you
God's gladness through Zephaniah
Tucked into the short, mostly severe book of Zephaniah is one of the most surprising sentences in the Bible. We are used to the idea that God loves us, in a dutiful sort of way — that he has obligated himself to put up with us. Zephaniah says something far warmer and stranger.
The Lord your God is in your midst, he writes, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Read it slowly. God is not merely tolerating his people. He delights in them. He sings over them — the way a parent hums over a sleeping child, the way a bridegroom beams at his bride.
We can usually believe God loves us. It is much harder to believe he likes us — that we are not a burden he has resigned himself to, but a joy he actively delights in. Zephaniah insists on it. The God of the universe looks at his people and breaks into song.
“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will rest in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.”
— The LORD, through Zephaniah — Zephaniah 3:17 (WEB)
Believe not only that God loves you but that he likes you — he delights in you and sings over you.
“As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
We can usually believe God loves us out of obligation, but not that he delights in us, so we picture his face as patient at best. The interior work is to receive the harder, warmer truth — that you are not a burden God has resigned himself to but a joy he actively enjoys — until you can imagine not just acceptance on his face, but gladness, even a song.
This week, when you come to God, pause and picture his face toward you not as merely tolerant but as glad. Let yourself imagine the God who saves you also delighting in you, and rest there a moment before you ask for anything.
Something in us settles for being tolerated by God and never dares imagine being enjoyed by him, picturing his face as patient at best. But Zephaniah caught him singing — he quiets you with his love and exults over you with joy — and a soul that knows it is delighted in cannot be crushed by the lie that it is merely endured.
There is a vast difference between believing God loves you and believing God likes you — between thinking of yourself as an obligation he has nobly taken on and as a delight he actively enjoys. Most of us live closer to the first than the second. We picture God's face toward us as patient at best, and we would be astonished to catch him singing.
But Zephaniah caught him at it. The same God who saves you with a mighty hand also quiets you with his love and exults over you with song. You are not merely forgiven and tolerated; you are enjoyed. When you imagine God thinking of you right now, can you picture not just acceptance on his face, but gladness — even a song?
- Do I believe God merely tolerates me, or delights in me?
- Can I picture gladness on God's face toward me, not just patience?
- What would change if I knew God sang over me?
Father, you rejoice over me with singing. Teach me to believe not only that you love me, but that you delight in me, and to rest in your gladness. Amen.