Resting in God's Love, Zephaniah 3:17

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.

     This verse originally refers to Jerusalem, the city of God's people, Israel. It is true that we, the church, are not Jews, but we are God's people. And whereas we may not be "God's covenant people", that is, we aren't the recipients of the Mosaic law, we are under the new covenant, the covenant of Christ's blood shed for our sins.¹ So as God's people, under God's holy covenant, this verse also applies to the church: Christians.

     The Lord in the midst of the church is mighty. God has said that He inhabits the praises of His people.² When we are gathered, two or more in Jesus' name, He is in our midst.³ The Lord is all-powerful, all-knowing, and almighty; He has declared that nothing is too hard for Him.⁴ So our almighty God and Savior is with us, His people! What a blessing! What encouragement!

     He will save. He does not delight in the death of the wicked, but desires that they would turn from their sin and be saved.⁵ God came to earth in the form of sinful flesh,⁶ yet having no sin,⁷ and bore the punishment due to us for our iniquity, so that by faith in Him-- that is, Jesus Christ-- we might be found righteous in God's sight and saved from everlasting punishment.⁸
     He has plans for peace and not for evil for us,⁹ He will not let us enter into trials without a cause-- He is too good to us. And when we do encounter trials and temptations, He has promised that He would be with us, never leaving us nor forsaking us,¹⁰ and that He would would never let us be tempted with more than we can bear, also providing a way of out so that we can stand up under it.¹¹ He has promised that all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.¹² The Lord wants us to cast our cares upon Him, because He cares for us!¹³ He will save us from destruction and from the hoplessness and futility of life-- He gives us purpose.

     God rejoices over us with joy! He rejoices in His people! He doesn't sit on His throne in heaven, frowning down at us in disdain and disapproval; He sees us through the lens of His pure and Holy Son, Jesus Christ! When we put our faith in Jesus, our sins are washed away, removed and forgotten. Psalm 103:12 says that as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. And if our sin is gone, there is absolutely no reason for Him to be upset with us! He delights in us, He finds joy in us!
     And joy is not tempermental or fleeting, it doesn't change like the weather, it is deep-rooted and permanent. He doesn't change His mind about us when we do something bad or something that He disapproves of. He already knew you were going to do it before He even called you to become one of His own, adopted into His family! God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.¹⁴ God rejoices over you with joy. Don't be gloomy and downcast, but rejoice also!

     He will rest in His love... He rests in His love for us, not our love for Him. Our love is fickle and changes more often that we could possibly keep track of. His love is permanent and unchanging, unwavering and unfaltering. He will never leave you nor forsake you.¹⁰

     This amazes me. God sings over us! Over me! Not only do we pour our hearts out in song to God, singing love songs to Him, but He sings love songs over us! And what a beautiful melody that must be!

     How amazing is our Savior's love for His people! So often I think that the Lord is mad at me, or unhappy with me, or frowning down at me... I picture Him sitting in the heavens, glaring down, just waiting for me to mess up so He can chastise me and punish me. If we are honest with ourselves, we will realize that we all have this sort of notion eating away at us at least every so often.
     But this picture isn't true at all, not in the least bit. It is a lie perpetrated by Satan to rob us of the joy that the Lord has set before us, the joy of living a life surrendered to Jesus. God has declared us innocent by virtue of faith in Christ Jesus, faith in His sacrifice for our sins on the cross and in His resurrection from the dead. We are innocent, forgiven, and greatly loved children of God.

¹Luke 22:20    ²Psalm 22:3    ³Matthew 18:19-21    ⁴Genesis 18:14    ⁵Ezekiel 33:11    ⁶Romans 8:3    ⁷2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5    ⁸John 3:16    ⁹Jeremiah 29:11    ¹⁰Deuteronomy 31:6 & 8, Hebrews 13:5    ¹¹1 Corinthians 10:13    ¹²Romans 8:28    ¹³1 Peter 5:7    ¹⁴Romans 5:8