The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.
(Zephaniah 3:17 NIV)
For me, Zephaniah 3:17 is associated with a dear lady for whom this was her favorite verse. She had the biggest grin when she recited it! “My God rejoices over me with singing!!” Recently as I reread the book of Zephaniah I remembered her joy in this verse, even as I realized the context it is in. That verse comes in the middle of an encouraging passage in the final chapter of Zephaniah.
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
The Lord your God is in your midst, 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.
I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.
Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors.
And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord. (Zephaniah 3:14-20 ESV)
Ah! That was lovely, encouraging, and makes us feel good, doesn’t it? Of course!
But, dig a little deeper – go back a chapter or two – and it’s almost all “gloom and doom.”
God is REALLY “peeved” with his people. After repeated invitations and warnings to repent from their idol worship and turn back to him, he is announcing his judgement on the ancient nation of Judah. Several times in the Old Testament we are told that “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Psalm 103:8 ESV). All these things are true: God is merciful, gracious, and abounding in love, and slow to anger. But he does get angry. Why? At sin.
If you know the stories of the Old Testament, you know that God’s chosen people who were descendants of Abraham, rescued from slavery in Egypt, brought into their Promised Land, and given the special and unique status of God’s children, turned away from worship and obedience to God. Zephaniah is only one of the many prophets that have given warning after prophetic warning to turn away from their sins and idol worship and turn back to God with pure and obedient hearts. God has been slow to anger, but the anger is real. The first 2 1/2 chapters of Zephaniah are all about how God will use other nations to punish Judah for her sins. And it will not be pretty.
What does this have to do with our lives today?
Biblical prophecy is a hard thing to interpret correctly because it foreshadows stories that happened later in the Bible, or have happened sometime between the Bible and now, or have yet to be fulfilled. Some prophecies both have been and will be fulfilled in different times and places. I hesitate to draw a strict parallel between the idol worship and apostasy of Ancient Israel with the idol worship and apostasy of today in our culture. Yet, there are many similarities. Thankfully, we do look at the world today through the lens of the Jesus event and his saving grace upon us. Of course, Zephaniah reminds us that God’s character doesn’t change. He still will not tolerate his people worshipping idols – whether wood and stone, or pleasure and power, or money and fame. He still is slow to anger – but he does anger. He still wants a people who are pure in heart, focused on him, and able and willing to absorb the love he has for us. When we are focused on idols, we miss the blessings and favor and divine LOVE he has for us.
So, today, let us examine our hearts, come before the Lord with confession of sins, and recommit ourselves to pure and holy lives. The benefits are tremendous!! Let us be in God’s presence, knowing him as the mighty one who saves, the one who quiets us with his love, and the one who rejoices over us with singing!
The Lord your God is in your midst,
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. (Zephaniah 3:17 ESV)
God,
Purify our hearts so that we may not sin against you. Remove anything and everything from our lives that is an idol of any sort, and replace them with your Word and Spirit. Help us to rightly read, understand, and live out your Word. We pray your Church and the greater world will realize the depth of your hatred for sin, and the breadth of your grace through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Rejoice over your Children as we seek your Kingdom first and live in the Abundant Life you call us to. We ask these things in Jesus’s name, AMEN.