Song of Celebration
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
The holy scriptures are full of such incredible pictures: Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Luke 15:7 I love to picture tons of angels celebrating a single sinner coming into fellowship with Christ. In my mind, there is celebration that makes a Tennessee Vols touchdown at Neyland Stadium pale by comparison.
I don’t think I’d ever read this particular verse in Zephaniah before a few days ago, or if I had, it certainly didn’t hit me with the impact that it did then. Spurgeon’s thoughts on Zephaniah 3:17 show the impact the thought of it had on him: The LORD will rejoice over thee with singing.’ Think of the great Jehovah singing! Can you imagine it? Is it possible to conceive of the Deity breaking into a song: Father, Son and Holy Ghost together singing over the redeemed?
Music has an incredible ability to multiply the emotions we can express with mere words. People have spent much of history trying to use words to describe music with very little success:
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato
“Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.” - Leonard Bernstein
“Where words leave off, music begins.” – Heinrich Heine
There is little doubt in my mind that music itself is a creation of the Almighty. Emotions are so easily conveyed when set to music. There are so many options that bring out a depth of feeling that mere words can’t seem to explain.
Singing is one of the great joys of my life. I’m under no delusion that I have been gifted with some kind of amazing singing voice, but vocalizing brings me an incredible amount of happiness under most any circumstance, Anybody who spends much time in my house comes to realize that it’s a pretty constant thing. People who visit often get their very own theme song that is belted at the top of my lungs when I see them come in. I taught my kids many childhood facts by putting them to song. but, when I sing praise to our Lord, and allow myself to fully experience a worshipful attitude, His presence is sometimes so palpable that I am overwhelmed with joy. Yet, it’s hard for me to imagine God singing, even harder to imagine Him singing out of love and affection for us. That must be the most beautiful sound in the universe.
If it doesn’t amaze you that God loves you enough to sing over you, think of holding your newborn child: that awestruck adoration that comes from holding a new person in your hands, and adoring every inch of their body and every ounce of their soul. Mamas don’t give a second thought to kissing baby feet or carefully bathing a newborn child. Everything they do is precious, even as they grow and begin to disobey and try our patience, we still adore them with an unparalleled love. My sons are young adults, and still, my world stops when they call and want to chat. Everything else can wait while I stop to find out what’s going on in their lives. And to realize that the one true God loves us each and every one far more than that is beyond our feeble ability to understand. Because as a parent, I am concerned about my children’s future, I worry about what they’re going to do with their lives, but God, He already knows the good and bad choices we’re going to make, He already understands our deepest most hidden thoughts and feelings, He understands us in a way we can never understand our own children, and still He loves us enough to number the hairs on our head. He loves us enough to allow us to walk through some valleys because He understands that those experiences will shape us in a way that will ultimately be for our good.
How do we respond to God’s love for us? If we have surrendered ourselves to Him and received that ultimate gift of salvation, then why wouldn’t we return His love in kind, or at least to the best of our small ability. So often, we struggle to carve out a couple of hours for Him on Sunday morning, when we clearly read in scripture that He is attuned to our every thought and need. How could we, having experienced His goodness, put Him on a shelf and just bring Him out one day a week? I don’t know how or why we choose to do that. I do know that I have been guilty of it at times. But from where I’m standing now, it seems inconceivable.
