The LORD Your God Is With You

“The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

Music is a large portion of the fabric of my family and home. I’ve been surrounded by music and song all of my life. I cannot remember, even on the darkest days, a day in my life when music in some form was not involved. Praise God for music!

One day recently I arrived home and my wife was in the kitchen singing as she prepared dinner and my daughter was in her room singing as she cleaned her bathroom. As I walked towards my room, I passed by the living room and heard one of my sons sitting at the piano plunking out new found chords on the piano while singing to the top of his lungs, only to continue towards my room and find my other son in his room playing his guitar with passion. Sound like a scene out of a Disney movie, doesn’t it? Well, not really.

However, I was reminded at that beautiful moment how music is a God-given vehicle of expressing emotion, good and bad, happy and sad. As a young father, I remember holding my children when they were sick and singing over them. And I cherished the times when I would lean over their cribs and sing songs rejoicing over the incredible gifts that they are to my wife and me.

One of my favorite pictorial passages in scripture tells us that God actually uses music to express His love to us. Zephaniah 3:17 paints the picture of the God of the universe singing over His children with love and delight. Imagine that, God singing over me, over you, over His children!

Today, read that passage in several translations and respond to that incredible picture. Then lift your voice in praise and adoration to such an Awesome God who when He thinks of you, SINGS!! He is so good and is worthy of our praise. Do just that today.

Pastor MJ