Delightful
When you imagine God thinking of you, is He filled with delight?
Verse of the Day
‘I meditate on your age-old regulations; O Lord, they comfort me.’
Today’s Devotional
Do you ever look for a sacred echo? Writer Margaret Feinberg describes a sacred echo like this. “God often uses the repetitive events and themes in daily life to get my attention and draw me closer to himself. Often when God speaks, He will echo the same message through a sermon, a passage of Scripture, a chance conversation, or an unexpected encounter.”
When I am paying attention, God speaks to me in sacred echoes. Sometime last year, in a sermon at church, the pastor used a verse from the book of Zephaniah as part of his teaching. When I cited the verse in my notes, I wrote in bold letters “GO BACK AND READ THIS VERSE”. I was trying to get my own attention. When I went back through my notes a few days later, I had already forgotten this verse. So I followed my own bold-lettered advice and went back to read this verse.
‘For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.’ Zephaniah 3:17
When I read through my 2023 journals, this verse stood out to me as one of the meaningful lessons that God was trying to get me to learn from His Word. Then at a church event last week, this verse was used again. I’m not sure about you, but the book of Zephaniah doesn’t come up all that often. This is how God gets my attention. Because, for me, repetition is required.
Now that I have read it many times, I can see the beauty of this verse in a way that takes my breath away. God, the Creator of the universe, is living among us. Not as an angry deity waiting to strike us down. Not with disappointment and disapproval when He looks at us. Not distant, leaving us to bear the weight of our own human decisions.
He is close to us. Right this second. He is mighty and strong and offers us salvation. Not just for after we die, but today. He is delighted with us to the point that He is singing. Have you ever been in such a good mood that you were singing? Or whistling? Or tapping out a beat on your leg or the steering wheel? Or just couldn’t contain yourself? THAT is how God feels about you!
And yes, I know. There is so much about yourself that you would change in order to consider yourself more sanctified. It’s really hard for us to believe that God could be delighted with us exactly as we are today. But that is EXACTLY what He is saying.
In my study of (and search for) the comfort of God, the thing that seems synonymous to comfort is a sense of calmness. When I have been comforted I am calm. And then I notice what else this verse says. “With his love, he will calm all your fears.”
God’s love for us IS our comfort. If we allow it to be.
How do we allow God’s love to comfort us? We meditate on it. Look at today’s verse: “I meditate on your age-old regulations; O Lord, they comfort me.” We spend time being still and quiet reading verses like Zephaniah 3:17 over and over until they penetrate our hearts. We ask God to show us a tiny piece of evidence that He is delighted with us. (And then we pay attention.) We choose to believe, by faith, that God’s Word is true and it applies to us.
God is offering us His love. And if we will take the time to really receive that love, it will quiet all of our fears. The journey of learning to receive God’s love is not a one time event. Instead, it is a daily event. We constantly and consistently need God’s love. And the discomfort we experience in this life is actually a gift, because it reminds us (over and over again) how much we need Him.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
How and where do you need God’s comfort today?
Can you picture God being so delighted with you that He is singing over you? Why or why not?
Set a timer for 5 minutes and meditate on Zephaniah 3:17.
Write a prayer of gratitude for how much God loves you. And if that does not feel true, write out a prayer asking God to show you His love for you.