A Quiet Love

He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

This text has always intrigued me. I am not fully sure of the meaning behind it all, but here are a few thoughts on the matter. According to erudite scholars such as Matthew Henry, the Lord's rejoicing over us with gladness is similar to the exultant rejoicing of a groom over his bride. Absolute ecstasy.

The second part of the verse is not about His quieting us. No, instead it has to do with Him. He will be quiet. Some take this to mean that He will not reproach us for our faults. It's true. He forgave them and He forgot them. They will not be brought back from their dead-sea burial. One teacher told me that if God buried our sins in the deepest sea that there was no longer any need for us to go fishing there. Interesting thought.

But I like to think of Christ as He stood silent before the slanderous accusations that were slapped across His face by Roman and Jewish authorities. Like a Lamb He remained silent, even while being led to the slaughter. In His whispers He expresses His delight. In His shouts He calls for our attention. But in His silence He shows us His love. Jesus delivered many great discourses. The Beatitudes on the Sermon of the Mount or the Last Supper could count as two of the very greatest discourses of all time. Yet the most sublime discourse He ever delivered was His silence prior to our salvation.

God is referred to in many ways. They speak of Him crying. They speak of Him thundering. They speak of Him whispering. They speak of Him glowing or shining. Lewis writes "[John] Donne points out that we are never told He laughed; it is difficult in reading the Gospels not to believe, and to tremble in believing, that He smiled." Yet here, in the third part of the verse, we see Him singing. What an amazing thought.

I won't even pretend to write anything about God singing. But just think about it. He was quiet for us, all because He loved us. There will also come a day when He will sing for us. Perhaps while the prodigal was away there was silence in the home, but on his return there was a fiesta, a real party. They had, I'm sure, singing and dancing too! On our conversion the Bible tells us that the angels start jammin' in Heaven. They have a real celebration. God sings, and I think He might even give us each our own serenade.