Yahweh your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will bring quietness with His love. He will delight in you with shouts of joy. Zephaniah 3:17
My words…
Praise to the God who shouts for joy!
To my shame, I have never thought of You as a joyful God. Your Spirit-inspired writers use a wide range of descriptors to capture Your character, from loving to wrathful, but not a whole lot about You as being filled with joy. I have read that “Jesus wept,” but I never read, “Jesus laughed.” Artists depict You as somber, serious, or in pain. I know that You must regard parts of Your creation and mourn. But viewing You only as a melancholy God hinders my appreciation of who You really are. Your creation makes you happy. You see the outlandish antics of the bird of paradise attempting to attract a mate and crack up! Me, too! (You see it live. I watch a documentary.) You giggle with the two-year-old who’s being licked in the face by her puppy. (You created puppies for that very thing.) The young man You protected from despair? He is thanking You, and You whoop it up. When I overcome a temptation, You shout for joy! (Perhaps a fist pump?) The heavens echo with Your cheers, and the angels join in the laughter. Gloom doesn’t gather around You. Sadness does not hover. You see the wonder of Your creation and the fullness of everything that inhabits it. How could You be anything else but saturated with joy?
I pray I will never again view You as a God whose brow remains furrowed and whose mouth is always turned down. You are the God who throws back His head and bursts into laughter. And because You indwell me, Your joy is contagious. You are the source of my joy. I hope, with my whole heart, that I have been a small source of Yours.
