Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!

Rejoice, be in high spirits and glory with all your heart,

O Daughter of Jerusalem [in that day].

[For then it will be that] the Lord has taken

away the judgments against you;

He has cast out your enemy.

The King of Israel, even the Lord [Himself],

is in the midst of you;

[and after He has come to you]

you shall not experience or fear evil any more.

That day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear not, O Zion.

Let not your hands sink down or be slow and listless.

The Lord your God is in the midst of you,

a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]!

He will rejoice over you with joy;

He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love

He will be silent and make no mention

[of past sins, or even recall them];

He will exult over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:14-17

I love the idea of God singing over me.

When our children were babies often I would hold them and sing special songs over them that my husband and I had composed just for them. Not songs that would ever be chart toppers, just simple lyrics & tunes in an attempt to express our heart & prayer for each of them; to begin to reassure them of our unconditional love and commitment to guard and protect them. Sometimes my husband would play the piano as I held them and danced around the room singing.

I know, I know...it all sounds a tad bit corny but we really did do it. More often I would sit in the middle of the night as I rocked them back to sleep, sing softly and pray for them. As a mother these are some of my favorite moments to reflect upon. I loved the intimacy of those moments as I held the beautiful gifts God had so blessed us with.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if all the moments with our children were filled with that kind of warmth. Unfortunately, they are not. There are just as many moments of temper tantrums, baby powder & vaseline smeared in their hair as well as around the room ( yes it did really happen) and as they grow older moments of defiance and full out challenging of boundaries. Plain and simple our children are human beings and they use poor judgement, mess up and disappoint us. Oh who's kidding...sometimes they down right tick us off. But because we love our children we soon discipline and before you know it they are the apple of our eye again.

How wonderful and ideal it would be if when we entered adulthood we had learned every lesson in poor judgement and every skill needed to know how to navigate life. Again, unfortunately, it's just not how it works. Even as adults sometimes we make mistakes, have lapses of character and hurt and disappoint ourselves and those around us. The hard part is that as adults the consequences are usually more than getting your bike taken away for the week or losing driving privileges...sometimes they can be almost unbearable.

Good News!

Ok, here's the good news...God has made provision for us to get things back on track. Romans tells us that at just the right time when we thought all hope was lost Jesus came and died to save us (Rom. 5). He came fulfilling our hope of redemption and freedom from...well...ourselves. You see even when we should know better but somehow find ourselves lost and in sin He made a way to redemption through repentance and faith in Him. Though our actions may have caused us to walk down a pathway we never thought we would or deal with consequences we never believed we could, He will not hold us to that season or moment. The prophet Zephaniah tells us here that our punishment will not last forever and neither will His rebuke.

When we repent and turn, He forgives and restores. God will sing a new song over your life. One of His everlasting love, daily mercies and empowering grace. And His song will be personal...His heart for you expressed. He is so faithful and just to forgive and restore us when we turn our hearts back toward Him.

Begin to listen for His song over you. There is forgiveness in it. There is everlasting love in it. There is rejoicing in it. There is freedom in it. There is new life in it. Just as we sang over our children to surround them with our love and protection so God sings over you! Lift up your hands and walk with renewed energy because you are not forsaken or forgotten...YOU are HIS child! You are the apple of His eye and He is singing over YOU!

Until next time...

Kathi ♡

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