God Delights in us

Read Zephaniah 3:9-20

Zeph 3:17
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.”

Throughout the Bible, we are told to ‘take delight in God” (Psalm 37:4) and to ‘rejoice in God (I Chronicles 16:10).

However, here is a wonderful picture of reversal. God is said to take delight in us and rejoice over us – with singing!!

Picture God jumping over the smallest achievement in us as a parent takes great pride in his child’s slightest action. Then imagine god breaking out in songs of happiness because of us! That is the kind of heavenly Father we have.

However, this does not mean that God is an indulgent parent who just spoils us rotten. The text here refers to those ‘remnant’ – the people who are the ‘residual’ believers who stick up for God and worship God despite the nation’s rebellion. These people have taken God to be their delight and in doing so, God takes delight in them as well.

God loves all of us (even with our sins and all) but it is those who have chosen to follow Him that He takes great delight in and rejoices over.

“Such as are upright in their way are his delight” (Proverbs 11:20).
“The prayer of the upright is his delight” (15:8).
“My strong enemy [was]…too strong for me…but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:17-19).

May God's delight in us energizes and transforms us in supernatural ways!