Recently I ran across an incredible scripture verse -- listen: “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with [his] singing…” (Zephaniah 3:17).
Wow! The Lord is with us. The Lord is mighty to save. The Lord is quieting us with His love. The Lord is rejoicing over us with His singing.
Why when folks in the early church heard such truth, Luke tells us, they were ‘cut to the heart…” (Acts 2:37). May we be ‘cut to the heart,’ allowing the Work of Jesus to work for us, cutting through everything else.
A few weeks ago I was consumed by everything else; stuck, immobilized. But then I ran into Joan Tichnell of our congregation, who’s a great listener. And so, I just poured out my frustrations about feeling stuck, overwhelmed. And with that, Joan ambushed me with a profound truth. “But Paul you’re missing the most important thing?” “What’s that?” “We love you; we love you!” And with that, the weight began to lift, the overload began to ease, and my life began to flow, again.
But more importantly: God loves you! For scripture overflows with a repetitive message: God is for us, not against us (Romans 8:31). I mean "...God did not keep back his own Son, but [God] gave [His Son} for us. If God did this Paul reasons in Romans 8 "...won't [God] freely give us everything else?" (Romans 8:32). And so Paul concludes: what can separate us from such acceptance and love. Can "...trouble or hardship...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him [through Jesus] who loved us. (Romans 8:35; 37-38)
And so let God quiet you with His love today. Let God rejoice over you with singing. For the Lord is with us! The Lord is mighty to save!
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