“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.” Zephaniah 3:17

Zephaniah was one of the minor prophets. He foretold of the coming exile of God’s people because of their sin and their denial of God. But Zephaniah also offered them (and us) hope. For those who remained faithful to God, God was in their midst and would remain faithful to them! Not only would God be with them, but He would save them and rejoice over them. The part of the verse which touched my heart was that God “will quiet you with His love”.

Wow, what a wonderful and comforting (and poetic) promise! If we look to God and remain faithful, He will quiet us, calm us, with His all-encompassing love. We know that God loves us; “for the Bible tells us so.” But to understand that no matter our past, no matter our fears and anxieties, no matter our sins, no matter our short comings, no matter whatever; God not only loves us, but wraps His love around us and quiets our souls and calms our hearts and soothes our past.  I just have to say, that’s amazing.

I had to start with that part; I love it because its promise to us is so incredible. But this verse also tells us something else I love. We are told many times in the Bible to “rejoice in the Lord”. I’m sure a few verses have come to mind already. (Philippians 4:4, Psalms 33:1, Isaiah 61:10 to list just a very few.) Rejoice means to show great joy or delight.

This verse also declares that God rejoices over us! He will rejoice over us (“with gladness” and “with singing”). Just as we can delight in all the Lord has done for us, He delights over us when we persist in our faith and love for Him.

The promises in this verse from Zephaniah give us hope and joy and peace. He is with us (“in your midst”), He saves us (“The Mighty One, will save”), He quiets and soothes us (“with His love”) and He rejoices over us!

This week embrace the promises from Zephaniah, and from our God. Go to God and release the past and fears and anxieties to Him and let His love quiet your heart and mind. Receive his saving grace and love and peace and be rejoiced over.

I thank God for each of you! And I thank you for joining me this week to explore the promises of God.