He sings over you

"The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."Zephaniah 3:17

Halfway through the month, and I saved the most surprising verse in the Bible for today. Zephaniah is a short, hard book, almost all warning and judgment. And then, in the last chapter, when nobody expects it, the tone turns and this appears: God rejoices over you with singing. God sings. Because of you. It is the only place in Scripture that shows God singing, and the reason for the song is you.

We got used to picturing God with his arms crossed, checking performance, putting up with us with the patience of an inspector. Zephaniah paints another scene: a God who "is with you," the Mighty Warrior who saves, who takes great delight in you and bursts into song, the way a mother sings to the child in her lap. Not because the child did something extraordinary. Because he exists and he is hers.

Notice too the phrase "in his love he will no longer rebuke you." God's love is not a wagging finger. The scolding stops, and what takes its place is delight, like someone who has finished repairing a beloved instrument and now hums while playing it. You are not tolerated by God. You are delighted in and sung over by Him.

Today's application is different from all the others: it is not to do anything. It is to receive. One minute in silence, no asking, no promising, no demands on yourself, just letting yourself be loved by Someone who sings because you exist. If you can, write this sentence where you will see it every day: "I bring God joy." Take the rest of the month to believe it. It is worth every day.