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 NLT).
Whenever I read this Scripture, tears fill my eyes and a lump forms in my throat. These inspired words give such an incredible picture of just how much our God loves us.
Let’s face it, this world can be a pretty rotten place, and we can get really beat up, put down, disillusioned, and disappointed with things and with people. With the high unemployment rate, the cost of living, taxes, broken families, broken relationships, terror threats, crime, death, lost friends and family, sickness, rejection; and constantly striving for the success, wealth, and beauty the world insists we must have in order to achieve happiness, life can leave us feeling like we just fought and lost a huge battle!
It’s easy to wonder if there’s anyone we can trust, if there’s anyone who truly cares. Sometimes I even begin to wonder whether I’m valuable at all or am I just another number on a form, another face in the crowd. Easily replaceable.
But then the Lord shows me a Scripture like this, and my heart soars. You are so important to God that the Creator of the entire universe stops to delight in you! He rejoices over you with songs! You are as precious to Him as if you were His only child. He longs to consume you with a tidal wave of His love, until finally, all your fears are swept overboard, never to be seen again.
I don’t know about you, but this verse is the best message I’ve ever received. May you receive it too until it settles deep within your heart and heals every wound this world has inflicted upon you.
MaryLu Tyndall