Leaning Into God's Promise To You

Zephaniah 3:17 (WEB)Yahweh, your God, is in the midst of you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.

I have a deep affinity for the prophets.  I hear so much of the gospel in their sayings and teachings.  Especially the prophets of the 8th century.  Now, Zephaniah was a prophet in the 7th century, but that means he would have been acquainted with the writings of the 8th century prophets such as Isaiah, Amos, Micah, Hosea and the like.  I hear a significant resonance in this verse from Zephaniah with those from the 8th century.

It's the end of Summer - actually, it will be September when you read this.  I hope you’ve had at least a chance or two to enjoy time with friends and family, maybe relax a bit.  There’s much, much to look forward to in the coming season, but with Fall there can be a sense of calendars too full, lives too busy, and a feeling of more pressure to accomplish and/or achieve.  As we go into this season, I offer the faithfulness and foundation-giving promises of this verse.

Let’s first look at the warmth and abiding grace of the promise of God that Zephaniah writes here.  Right away is the declaration that God is with us.  “Yahweh, your God, is in the midst of you,”. Zephaniah isn’t writing to one specific individual; he’s writing to the people of Israel.  That includes each individual and the whole collective of people who are Israel.  God is not some far off divine presence. God is in the very midst of us; present, in this world (that God so loves), at this very time.  And God is a “mighty” God who rescues (“saves”).  We are not left to the brokenness and destructiveness of ourselves and of the ways of the world – we are rescued!!

The next sentence (promise) is God’s feelings toward God’s people: God rejoices over us.  According to the Oxford dictionary, “Rejoice” is defined, “Feel or show great joy or delight.”  God feels great joy for and takes delight in you!  This is a truth you can lean into on days of frustration or days that don’t go as hoped and you feel defeated.

What a promise of grace is expressed in the next sentence (promise). “God will calm you in his love.”  It doesn’t get much better than that: in a season of pressure and angst, of too many commitments and schedules too full; we can be calmed by the truth that God’s unlimited, unconditional love – as scripture tells us – can not be separated from us! (Romans 8:39). That love is something we can lean on as well as lean into.  Amid the cacophony, confusion and distractions of what can be a toxic culture, we can breathe a bit slower, think a bit quieter, move with a bit more purpose knowing the truth of God’s steadfast love, that as the psalmist says, “…endures forever.” (Psalm 136).

God’s rejoicing actually invokes melody! The next promise is God rejoices over you, us, each and all – with singing!  This joy God finds in you isn’t just a little warm feeling, it is a deep and abiding joy!  You make God’s heart sing!!  (I know you’ve heard me say that more than once in my preaching).  Allow that truth (promise) to fill you with rejoicing yourself!

Now, why have I continued to put the word promise in parenthesis throughout this column?  Because the word “will” is used in every sentence!  It doesn’t say “God might”, or “God most likely”, or “God could”, or “if your good enough then…”.  It says, “God will”.  And God is faithful!  God will rescue (save) us. God will rejoice. God will calm. God will sing.  Just as God has and just as God does!! (for God always has, is, and will be…God!)  As we move into this exciting season of Fall, with all it’s wonderful experiences and opportunities – it may get the best of us at times and seem overwhelming.  Let us live in the promise of God’s abiding joy and calming love.

Be God’s, Pastor Jim