Get Up and Dance!

"Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
(Zephaniah 3:14,17)

As you read those words, don't you want to get up and shout - maybe do the happy dance?

I KNOW!! I see ya'll grinnin'.

God is so very faithful to His children. Why do we ever doubt His love? How could we possibly place our hope in earthly things? He is the great God, worthy of our praise!

I thought this little tidbit was interesting: The word, rejoice, is used twice but it is two different Hebrew words.

The first: "He will rejoice over you with gladness." This "rejoice" is sus (soos) which means to be greatly happy. The word sason is derived from sus and means a pervasive, irresistible joy.

The Lord our God "will be greatly happy" with us. When He thinks of His children He is filled with pervasive, irresistible joy.

The second rejoice, "He will rejoice over you with singing." This "rejoice" comes from the Hebrew word for joy which is gil (geel). I love this one. It means "dancing for joy" or "leaping for joy". Isn't that wonderful?

The Lord our God "will be dancing for joy" over His people. What a glorious thought!

Can we fathom the Father's love? Can we discern the amount of joy He has for us just because we are His children? I don't think so.

May we never forget that God is the embodiment of love. With that love comes enormous emotion. I think that is where we limit God - that's where we encase Him in the proverbial gilded box. But remember...

He loves us with an everlasting love.
He is a jealous God.
He expresses anger over our rebellion.
He is saddened by our waywardness.

And He dances and leaps for joy, singing in celebration over His children.

The Lord our God, The Mighty One, is in our midst. Beloved, He rejoices over you. Settle into His arms and allow Him to quiet you with His love. And then?

Then...get up and dance!

Father, we give you praise and we thank You for Your love. Thank You for being in our midst, for dwelling with us. We worship You with all that we are. We love you, Lord.