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Weekly Devotional ..................
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The Song and Dance of the LordZephaniah 3:17 For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song." Would you believe me if I told you that the God of the universe, your creator and savior, has been, and now is, and will always be doing, a “song and dance” over you? Most of us struggle with this notion because it is so unlike the nature of God as we currently imagine Him. In many of our minds, God is much too important or busy or dignified to get all “giddy” over us. Well, that’s exactly what the words of the Bible are telling us in this passage. Anytime that you read the words “LORD God” in scripture, know that this is the high name of God, Yahweh (Jehovah) Elohim. The scope of “Yahweh Elohim” as a name is quite literally infinite. There is nothing left to say about God’s nature when you say Yahweh Elohim … all of His power and all of His influences are contained in this covenant name. The giddiness of God is easier to see in words like “rejoice”, “gladness”, “exult” and “singing a happy song”. But without the knowledge that it is truly the God of the universe who is operating in this mode, the verse is puzzling at best. Do not be afraid to take the Bible at its word. It is, as you know, the very WORD of God. While our printed Bibles are not actually the Lord Himself, they are “representations” of Him and the Lord uses these printed pages to speak into our lives through His Holy Spirit. While it is so very good to know WHO this passage is speaking of and who this passage blesses, that alone may not make it easy for any of us to believe that God gets this excited over “little old me”! “I’ve made too many mistakes, I sin too many sins, I show too much hatred, indulge in too much lust, etc., etc., etc.” Nearly ALL of the time that the Lord has given me has been wasted on me instead of Him and others … how could He possible be happy about that? Good question … I’m glad that you asked. God never “wastes” time because He is not subject to it. None of His actions or decisions is constrained by it. Furthermore, He created it! Everything that we do is limited and governed by time, including all of our mistakes, sins, lusts, etc. God has made a decision in eternity (the place where there is no time) to be happy about His children (you and me) in spite of everything that we’ve done in and with the time that He created for us. Since He is infinite (no limits), He has all of the power that He needs to back up that decision with the kind of love that only He can give; most notably, the perfect atoning life of His Son that conquers sin and death and makes it possible for us to have a “real Life”. Think about it… |
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