Wilderness Wanderings

Sunday, October 4, 2020 Worship

"The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices… (Ezra 9:1).

"Moderation in all things".

Many of us know this popular bit of folk wisdom. It is very helpful when it comes to a balanced diet, work versus play, and so on. But it doesn't apply to everything.

Hating sin, for example, is something in which God's people are to show no moderation. We are to hate it and flee from it with enthusiasm and passion. When writing to Timothy about certain temptations, Paul writes, "But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness" (1 Timothy 6:11). To the church he writes, "reject every kind of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22).

I think that many of us do not have much enthusiasm or passion for this. We want the freedom, the permission to dabble a little bit with sin. When I was in college, we used to have conversations which essentially asked the question: how close can we get to the line without going over it? Such an inquiry is a long way from 'reject every kind of evil'.

One of our issues is that fleeing from sin makes us feel and look excessive and weird. It will separate us from culture.

It probably means that we will need to change from our past selves. We will need to give up attitudes that we have towards other people. The Bible's persistent call to love our neighbours means we need to stop looking down on others, including people of other races and people of other a socio-economic status. We will need to give ourselves permission to question our political leanings and support.

Its really a question about worship: who or what we worship.

That is where the book of Ezra leaves off. The last 2 chapters deal with Israelites marrying folks from other nations. But that is just the presenting issue. What lies behind this is Israel's lackluster attitude towards God and worshipping him alone. Their intermarrying quickly progresses to joining their foreign spouses in worshipping other gods.

Israel was to be separate from other nations. They were to be geographically, culturally, ethnically and religiously different from the others.

Christians are not geographically, culturally or ethnically separated from others. However, we are practitioners of a different religion. Our everyday worship of God sets us apart from others.

But what does that look like?

That is the question each generation of Christians needs to ask and wrestle with. This is no easy task. The conversations I had in college were often heated and ungracious. We all thought we knew the right answer. In truth, we were all very naïve and simplistic.

We lacked both wisdom and grace. Frequently, such conversations formed camps and we thought the other camp suspect. In some of Paul's letters he writes about the weak and the strong. Much of what he writes there is helpful for these conversations. This devotion can't get into all of that. But I do want to stress the fact that each generation of Christian needs to have these conversations.

To help those conversations, I think we need to focus more on the positive aspects of the Christian life. Paul wrote, "flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness." If we spend more time on the pursuit side of the equation, the fleeing will be more obvious.

Finally, we ought to follow Ezra's example. When we become aware of sin, our first response ought to be confession. Ezra's awareness of the sin in the community leads him to confess it before God. He is acutely aware that they cannot presume upon God's mercy. Neither can we.

Our current Christian culture tends toward an approach to repentance that advocates "saying sorry" to God and trying (at least for a while) not to repeat the particular sin. We need to recover an understanding of the seriousness of sin and how it affects us.

Experiencing the seriousness of sin in our heart (our guts) makes us more aware of God's grace. And thankful for it. And will enable us to pursue a life of worshipping God alone.

An Honourable Prayer

Jabez was more honourable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request. 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

Today I want to talk about a guy named Jabez. I was first introduced to him years ago in Bruce Wilkinson's book "The Prayer of Jabez." This man Jabez is found in the middle of a long list of genealogies that start in 1 Chronicles 1 and for the next 9 chapters go on in detail from Adam to Saul. There are brief sections like this one in chapter 4 where there is a bit more information given on one individual or group of individuals before starting off again with a list of more names. Boring, right? Well for me anyway, over the past few years I've come to really respect the genealogies found in the Bible. The meticulous way that they are written, and in places like those found in the book of Nehemiah for example, even exact numbers of both people and animals are carefully recorded. Genealogies are a word picture of God's love and compassion for His people. Not one is left out.

That brings me to Jabez. He is found nowhere else in the Bible except in these two verses. Verse 9 starts off telling us that he was more honourable than his brothers. What that means we are not told, but it's significant enough for the author to mention it. The name Jabez means "born in pain," and in Bible times, the meaning of your name was significant. This did not bode well for Jabez right from birth. (Think of the names of Naomi's two sons who died in the opening verses of Ruth. Their names were Mahlon and Chilion which mean "sickness" and "destruction.")

Jabez decides that he does not want to live a life full of pain, and so he calls out to God. I can imagine him on his knees, desperately crying out the words of the prayer that follows with tears streaming down his face perhaps. He wanted God's blessing and he wanted it a lot. So he starts his prayer with those words, "Oh, that you would bless me..." Do you ask God for blessings or does that seem too self serving to you? God wants to bless each one of us, just as he wants us to bless others as His image bearers. So...ask God for His blessing in your life and see if He doesn't just open up the floodgates!

Next in his prayer Jabez says, "enlarge my territory! " He didn't just want a blessing from the hand of God, he was ready to step into whatever "let loose" when God started to bless him! He was ready to be sent out. What would happen if we started to ask God to enlarge our territory? As individuals, as families, as a church family, as the Church of God? Would you be willing to step out of your comfort zone, a little bit at a time as God slowly pushes your current boundaries, the churches current boundaries out, and out, and out? Would you go where God leads and sends you, even if it's not what you had planned? Are you willing to have your boundaries stretched?

Jabez then asks of God, "Let Your hand be with me..." If God is going to bless Jabez and send him into an enlarged territory, Jabez needs to put on some battle armour. God's hand is just that. When God's hand is with us, and His Spirit lives in us we are equipped to take on whatever life throws at us. Over the past months, and even years we have gone through some pretty major things. Without God's hand guiding and holding us and His Spirit indwelling us, we would be lost.

Lastly, just like Jesus prayed "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13), Jabez prayed "keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." Although Jabez was more honourable than his brothers, I can imagine the shame he may have carried with him every day because of the name that he had. Jabez: Born in pain. Harm in our lives might come in many different forms. Temptations, gossip, distractions pulling us away from God, and idols of every type could fit into this category. Anything that could cause us physical, mental, emotional or spiritual harm and lead us away from God's presence in our lives. This is not to say that these things will not come, but in praying like Jabez, and like Jesus we are asking that God by His Spirit would lead us away from anything that could cause us harm.

Jabez asked for God's blessing, to be sent out beyond his comfort zone, for God to go with him as he went, and for God to keep him far away from harm so that pain would not enter (or remain) in his life. What would happen if we started to ask God for these same four things too? If we came to God in humility and trust with a repentant heart, seeking Him, and said to Him just as Jesus says in the Lord's prayer, "may Your will be done?" The Lord honours those who seek Him. Like Jabez. His prayer was bold, honest and courageous. John Ortberg in his book "The Me I Want to Be" says, "The goal of prayer is not to get good at praying, as many people think. The goal of prayer is not to try to set new records for how much time we spend praying. The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God." I think, from reading these two verses that Jabez may just have lived just like he prayed, and so these two verses end with one final sentence.

"And God granted his request."

Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven male lambs and, as a sin offering, twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord (Ezra 8:35).

Ezra 8 records a second group of exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem. On arrival, they have what appears to be an impromptu worship service, Old Testament Israelite style, that is. But, upon closer inspection it is anything but spontaneous.

This group is led by Ezra who has spent much of his life studying the law of God. Ezra knows Moses well, really well. This journey from Babylon is an echo, or a shadow, of the journey from Egypt which Israel took under Moses' leadership. Much of what Ezra does follows the pattern Moses laid down.

The most significant is the gathering of the Levities. This tribe stood for the Lord while Israel prostrated themselves to the golden calf (Exodus 32). Thus, they were set apart to special work for the Lord. In his final prayer, Moses offered these words regarding Levi: "he watched over your word and guarded your covenant. He teaches your precepts to Jacob and your law to Israel. He offers incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar" (Deuteronomy 33:9-10). Knowing this, Ezra will not leave Babylon without an escort of Levites.

Ezra doesn't have the ark or tabernacle for the Levites to care for and carry. But he assigns the temple money and articles to the care of the priests and Levites, appointing twelve of each to this duty, echoing the original 12 tribes. He ensures proper stewardship of God's holy belongings by scrupulously measuring and counting the items at both beginning and end of the journey.

The gathering for sacrifices is also a result of this careful attention to the law of Moses and echoes Israel's original entrance to the land. This careful attention to the number and types of sacrifices indicates the Israelites identify as God's covenant people and desire to be faithful to God.

Behind all the actions of Ezra and his people is the hand of God. The story is told in such a way that we see God providing for them. He brings them capable Levites (18). He gives them a safe journey (23, 31). All the donated items are accounted for in Jerusalem (34). The king's orders result in assistance from the government officials.

As God redeemed Israel from Egypt, he is now redeeming them from Babylon. As God, through Moses, called Israel to be faithful, he now, through Ezra, calls for faithfulness. These sacrifices indicated Israel's intention to leave behind the ways of Egypt and Babylon and embrace the ways of God.

Both of these redemption stories point forward to the greater redemption story in Jesus Christ. Jesus is greater than both Moses and Ezra. He is the greatest and the final Levite. Not only does he teach us God's way, He is God's way. And he gives us His Spirit to lead us in the way of faithfulness.

He does not lead us in sacrifice, He is our sacrifice. He gave his own life that we may live. "There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:5,6).

Under Moses and Ezra, Israel needed to make the journey to the promised land, with lethal hazards along the way. Jesus makes it for us. By faith in him, we are already citizens of God's kingdom. By faith in him, when we die, we will enter into the glory of God's presence.

The sacraments remind us of this. The Lord's Supper points to the death of Christ on our behalf. It symbolizes our reception of the life Christ's sacrifice imparts. Similarly, baptism reflects the death and resurrection of Christ. Baptism symbolizes that in Christ we die to our own selfish ways and the values of the present world and by Christ's power we are resurrected to life in the Spirit. Both remind us that God pours His Spirit into us to leave behind the ways of this world and to embrace the ways of his kingdom.

Thanks be to God.

Do Not Fear

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:15-17

Do not fear! This statement is written over and over again in the Bible in different forms. 365 times....one for every day of the year. But it's so easy to get caught up in what is going on around us. The loss is tremendous. Social, economic, physical, even mental. But we don't have to be at a loss spiritually. We are God's children, and as such He has a rich inheritance waiting for us. No parent would tell their child that life is going to be "all good" or just, or fair. It just isn't. But because we share in the sufferings of Christ we get to share in His glory as well.

When God says do not fear, it's not just one of those pat phrases that is telling you something that really has no meaning. Romans 8 compares being in fear to slavery. Fear keeps us in bondage. The adoption into sonship which we received when we first believed in Christ was brought about by the Holy Spirit, our God, who dispels the darkness, stills the waters and silences demons. He can help us take control of any fear that ails us. No, we don't know what the future holds, but we didn't know that before this whole pandemic started either. We may be feeling frayed, tattered, isolated, tired of home church, stressed about the future, grieving all the loss.... But Romans 8 tells us that the Spirit that is inside of us brings about our adoption into the family of God, which abolishes the slavery that we previously had to fear.

We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Since we are children of God and members of His spiritual family, we have a glorious inheritance waiting for us. One that will never perish or fade, but where God is our constant light and joy is something that is felt within our very being. In this present world we long for our heavenly home in glory. Not in fear, but with eager hope.

But sometimes God wants to use our fears to propel us into his will and his plans for us. The Holy Spirit sometimes guides us towards circumstances that we may otherwise want to avoid due to fear. Our anxious thoughts tell us that we shouldn't, we can't, and finally, we won't. But God our heavenly Father in His goodness, grace and compassion nudges and pushes us forward into unknown territory where our fear seems larger than life, just like an earthly parent may do for their child. Moses confronted Pharaoh, David faced Goliath, Elijah faced hundreds of prophets of Baal, Daniel was thrown in a pit full of lions. Each one faced a fearful and intimidating situation, but with God's hand guiding them, came out the other side victorious.

God is the best Father we could ever want or need. He is patient, faithful and He loves us more than we could ever even love ourselves. He pulls us in for the hug many of us are craving right now, as His very own child. Free from bondage to fear, free from condemnation. Simply resting in the fullness of His love. Simply resting in Him.

For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel (Ezra 7:10).

The book of Ezra began by telling us that God moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, who made provision for the people of Israel to return to Jerusalem. Once there, they were able to begin rebuilding the temple of God with the finances from the royal treasury. I find it curious that this book was given the name Ezra, since the man Ezra doesn't show up till chapter 7.

Remember that the Bible's main task is to tell us about God. In Ezra 7, we get a glimpse into the nature of God. And its almost as if God is a bit mischievous, in the best sense of that word, of course. Ezra is introduced this way, "Ezra came up from Babylon" (7:6).

What was Babylon? Well, Babylon was the city of the emperors who tried to eradicate Israel. The story of Esther and the opening chapters of Daniel tell us just how strong the enmity towards the Jews was. It wasn't just Israel, but in particular, Israel's God that was the issue. This God needed to be dethroned.

But now, out of this Babylon comes Ezra, who "had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel". So, while Daniel and his friends were being persecuted by the establishment and while Haman was scheming against the Jews, God had a secret agent studying his law in Babylon. And when the time was right, he emerges and travels to Jerusalem fully prepared to teach this law to the returned exiles.

And the story gets even better. He has a letter from King Artaxerxes in his back pocket which includes this paragraph, "And you, Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates—all who know the laws of your God. And you are to teach any who do not know them. Whoever does not obey the law of your God and the law of the king must surely be punished by death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment" (Ezra 7:25-26).

From out of the city that tried to annihilate God's people, the king sends forth someone who has the capacity to teach ways of God to this new community which is re-establishing the worship of God in Judea.

So, what happens when Ezra finally arrives in Jerusalem? The people have been here for some years already. Will they accept this new comer? The book of Nehemiah takes up the story.

All the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. So, on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law (Nehemiah 8:1-3).

From daybreak to noon they stood and listened attentively. Well, that puts perspective to the words of Psalm 119: Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path (119:105). The scriptures don't become and lamp and light just because we want them to; for that to happen, we need to make the commitment to know them.

Historians have noted that revival in the church always includes a renewed commitment to studying the scriptures. Paul tells us that "these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did (1 Corinthians 10:6). He was referring to Israel's wanderings in the wilderness with Moses, but I think the Babylonian exile counts as well. I don't think I need to say anything more.

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Quiet, Be Still

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" Mark 4:37-41 NIV

Back in May, twice in one week this text of Jesus calming the storm came up through various outlets for me. Then, two days after I published the blog post that this devotional stems from, Pastor Michael preached a sermon on the same passage (although he preached on Matthew's version). Perhaps this passage came up so much that week for me because I needed to reflect on the words and their meaning more deeply. But I feel like it's something that we can reflect on again today.

That week, I attended a meeting via Zoom where we practised Visio Divina (in Latin this means "divine seeing"). This is a practice where you pray and reflect using images or other types of media. The group leader read through the passage of scripture of Jesus calming the storm several times as the rest of the group reflected on a painting by Rembrandt of the disciples and Jesus in a small boat as water is pouring over the sides.

A few things struck me. One of them that I saw in the painting was that more than half of the disciples were centred around Jesus at the stern of the boat, but there was a lone disciple at the bow holding up the mast, straining under its weight as the ropes holding it snapped and billowed through the stormy air. I can be like that disciple. We all can. Trying to go it alone. Knowing Jesus is right there, but needing a hard spiritual shove some days to remember to turn to Him first. So, how do we stop striving to achieve more and give more, and feel like we need to do more? How do we stop looking to these things and many others for worth and value and reassurance? It can feel so easy to keep going back to the same patterns and thoughts and stuff that hasn't worked in the past. But when we turn to the truth of God's Word, it tells us that we don't need to strive or try so hard anymore because Christ died, rose from the dead and is alive. When we believe in the Son, our salvation is sure, we have been promised an abundant life and our debt, our sin, our striving and our need to measure up have been paid in full. Our striving is often still there though. But so is Jesus. Always present. Always beckoning.

The other thing that struck me were the words of the disciples. "don't you care if we drown?" The disciples were terrified. They were madly trying to keep their small fishing vessel afloat, while Jesus slept on a cushion. Seriously Jesus?? Don't you care about us? How could you sleep at a time like this? Hello!!?? Do you feel like Jesus has fallen asleep in the midst of the storm that you are in right now, peacefully resting on a cushion while the world is falling all around? Perhaps. Meaning that He's not scared of the storm and He knows that He has authority over it. Look at what Jesus says to His disciples after calmly standing up and rebuking the wind and waves. He says "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Ouch! That hurts. Jesus rebukes the fury of nature and then turns to the disciples who obviously have just not 'gotten it' yet and question how they could have spent so much time in the presence of the living God Himself in the bodily form of Jesus but still be so afraid and have so little faith.

In Mark's take on the event, Jesus doesn't just say little faith though...He says NO faith. The disciples followed Jesus in person, observed him, listened to him and learned from him, yet were still afraid. Do we take time out of our busy, often stressful days to rest in the presence of God? To observe His stories, listen to the words He speaks in scripture and learn from Him, then put into action what we have seen, heard and learned?

The disciples were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" I wonder what this pandemic would look like for us if we turned our fear into faith. If we took our worries and used them to propel us towards love for others? What would it look like if we focused our mind on the scriptures and on who God is in His very nature instead of the lack and the storm in our lives? How would our lives be changed? How could we change a life around us? This scripture shows us that Christ has authority over all things. God has us covered. He sees us and He knows our needs, He knows our hearts and He knows our minds. He wants to renew our minds into the likeness of Christ. Even amidst the fear and anxiety of our present storm Jesus calls out "Quiet! Be still!" He calls out to us to quiet our mind and then fill it with Scripture, the truth of His Word. He calls out to us to be still with Him, rest in Him, and listen to His still small voice inside of us. The voice that not only calls out, as Jesus did to the wind and waves that day....but the voice that also whispers to our deepest place "Quiet. Be still."

Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy (Ezra 6:16).

Today, I want to focus on the last phrase of this text, 'with joy'. The Israelites celebrated the completion of the new temple of God with joy. To fully appreciate this phrase, we need to recall how the nation got here and how they almost missed out on this joy.

In Ezra 1, we are told that God moved the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia, to bring an end to Israel's Babylonian captivity. He allowed them to go home. More than that, he made provision for them to rebuild the temple of God. Not only could Israel return to the land God had given them, but they were enabled to begin worshipping him again properly. God was clearly on the move.

However, once they started rebuilding, their neighbours recognized that if this temple rebuilding project succeeded, it would not be good for said neighbours: Israel would increase and the neighbours would decrease. These neighbours recognized that Israel's success was in the hands of her God. The temple's rebuilding and the re-established of proper worship would mean that God was present among these Israelites. That would be a problem.

So, the neighbours set out to ensure that God stayed away. Several attempts failed. They were finally successful when they sent a letter to the new Persian king, highlighting that Jerusalem had been a difficult and rebellious city. If the temple and city were rebuilt, it was bound to rebel again. An order was issued to halt the project.

The rebuilding Israelites all went to their homes, focussed on their own well being and God stayed away. Well, sort of. You see, God was at work, moving the hearts of kings. And now he needed to move the hearts of his people. So, he sent them two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. Both of them have books included in the Bible, which give details about how God moved his people back to the rebuilding project.

Two things are worth highlighting from those books. First, from Haggai. The people have gone about the business of rebuilding their economy. Despite their best efforts and their hard work, it isn't going so well. When Haggai comes along and says its time to start rebuilding again, the people say, "Look, we are working really hard, barely making it, so we really don't have time or money for the temple."

To which Haggai responds, "Don't you think that if you put God first, he will take care of your needs?" Zechariah adds this, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you" (Zechariah 4:9).

Essentially, God puts a fleece before Israel: "Put me first and I will take care of you." Sounds like something Jesus echoed, "seek first [God's] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).

The Israelites send a letter to the new Persian king, letting him know that the previous one had sent them home to rebuild the temple. And they start rebuilding. Soon a reply comes from Persia giving permission for the rebuilding. But there is more in the royal letter. In it, the neighbours who interfered are instructed to give daily provisions for the rebuilding and for the workers.

Now we understand the joy of the people celebrating the completion of the temple. They had seen what God does. God had kept his word.

I wonder how much joy we miss out on because we don't heed Jesus' words, "seek first [God's] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:33).

--This devotion appeared originally on the blog "Growing Into Up" by Jennifer Heidinga, who has made it available here with permission and now also as a podcast!--

"The Lord your God is in your midst; he is a warrior who can deliver. He takes great delight in you; he renews you by his love; he shouts for joy over you." (Zephaniah 3:17 NET)

We have had some incredible rainstorms this summer! Storms where the rain pours down and then retreats. In the middle of one such storm, my son ran up and down the sidewalk and splashed in puddles all along our street, making the water stream as high as he possibly could above his head. I couldn't stop myself from smiling and laughing out loud. I used to do the same thing as my son when I was in high school whenever there were puddles. I would walk in my front door at the end of my walk home from school absolutely drenched, a huge smile spread across my face. Do I still find immense joy in puddle jumping? Yes!

What brings you joy? What makes your heart sing? Is it creating, learning, encouraging others, crunching numbers, times of solitude, music, nature, going all in for a cause? What makes you feel alive while you are in its midst? That my friend is your heart song. The thing that makes your heart sing. Now think about that thing for a minute and imagine God there with you, smiling and even laughing out loud to see the joy that it brings to you. That picture is how God sees you every single day. This verse from Zephaniah shows us who God is in his very nature. He is present with us, in our midst. Even when we can't "feel" his presence, he is always there. His Spirit goes with us. God delights in us, he renews us by means of his love and he shouts for joy over us. Can you imagine God delighting in you so much that he is literally shouting in joyful glee over you? That is how God truly feels about each one of us. He knows our hang-ups and mess-ups and loves us anyway. A-ma-zing.

Looking at a few other versions of Zephaniah 3:17 gives us an even better picture into the character of God. He is a mighty Saviour and he will rest in silent satisfaction and make no mention of past sins or even remember them (AMPC). God will calm all our fears (NLT), and the Lord will quiet us by his love (ESV). All three of these Bible versions tell us that God will exult or rejoice over us with loud, joyful songs. God delivers us from our fears, and calms us with his inexpressible love in the midst of them.

One of the themes in the book of Zephaniah is that of judgement for those who have bowed to false gods and turned their back on the One True God. Another theme is that of deliverance. God saves. He is a mighty Saviour, a mighty warrior. God rests with us as we struggle through our sins and the implications they have in our lives and the lives of those around us. He makes no mention of our past sins and he sent Christ to abolish our condemnation once and for all because we belong to him (Rom 8:1). God loves us so deeply that he rejoices in us and rests with us and can't take his eyes off of us simply because we are his. We are his beloved (SOS 6:3), his treasured possession (Deut 7:6), his delight (Zeph 3:17) and his masterpiece (Eph 2:10).

Are you living in the joy of the Lord every day? Do you see yourself as God sees you, without blemish or spot, a son or daughter of the King? Do you need to take time today to rest in God's love?