Zephaniah 3:17 is one of my favorite passages. It's also a song that I sing to people as a blessing and to my little brother, Maclane, as I rocked him to sleep so many months ago. "The Lord your God is with you. He is mighty to save. He will take great joy in you. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing." The NIV version says "He will take great delight in you." God delights in me, in you, in us.
Have you ever stopped to think about this truth? The God of the universe delights in you! I have been reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan for the second time. He reminds us throughout the book that God loves us and desires to be in relationship with us. Now I think during this year in the Czech Republic I've missed/will have missed approximately 9 weddings. My friends are getting engaged left and right! When I talk with them the story is always similar, "I can't believe he chose me!" is the feeling most women have. I realized that this is the same feeling that I should have about my Heavenly Father. "I can't believe he chose me! I can't believe He wants to be in a relationship with me!" So ladies and gents, if you have ever been in love or are in love right now, take that emotional feeling and magnify it by 10 and that is the overwhelming joy we should feel by being chosen by God.
Marilyn Meberg says, "Knowing He delights in us allows us to feel secure about who we are and Whose we are." As I wrestle with homesickness, almost constant gray and rainy weather, and balancing the many demands of life, I am re-discovering what it means to be a delight to God. It's an active, constant delight. Just like his unconditional love is constant and active. Everything else around me may be in complete chaos but He delights in me. I'm His and He is in control.
