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--This devotion appeared originally on the blog "Growing Into Up" by Jennifer Heidinga, who has made it available here with permission and now also as a podcast!--

"The Lord your God is in your midst; he is a warrior who can deliver. He takes great delight in you; he renews you by his love; he shouts for joy over you.\u201d (Zephaniah 3:17 NET)

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We have had some incredible rainstorms this summer! Storms where the rain pours down and then retreats. In the middle of one such storm, my son ran up and down the sidewalk and splashed in puddles all along our street, making the water stream as high as he possibly could above his head. I couldn't stop myself from smiling and laughing out loud. I used to do the same thing as my son when I was in high school whenever there were puddles. I would walk in my front door at the end of my walk home from school absolutely drenched, a huge smile spread across my face. Do I still find immense joy in puddle jumping? Yes!

What brings you joy? What makes your heart sing? Is it creating, learning, encouraging others, crunching numbers, times of solitude, music, nature, going all in for a cause? What makes you feel alive while you are in its midst? That my friend is your heart song. The thing that makes your heart sing. Now think about that thing for a minute and imagine God there with you, smiling and even laughing out loud to see the joy that it brings to you. That picture is how God sees you every single day. This verse from Zephaniah shows us who God is in his very nature. He is present with us, in our midst. Even when we can't \u201cfeel\u201d his presence, he is always there. His Spirit goes with us. God delights in us, he renews us by means of his love and he shouts for joy over us. Can you imagine God delighting in you so much that he is literally shouting in joyful glee over you? That is how God truly feels about each one of us. He knows our hang-ups and mess-ups and loves us anyway. A-ma-zing.

Looking at a few other versions of Zephaniah 3:17 gives us an even better picture into the character of God. He is a mighty Saviour and he will rest in silent satisfaction and make no mention of past sins or even remember them (AMPC). God will calm all our fears (NLT), and the Lord will quiet us by his love (ESV). All three of these Bible versions tell us that God will exult or rejoice over us with loud, joyful songs. God delivers us from our fears, and calms us with his inexpressible love in the midst of them.

One of the themes in the book of Zephaniah is that of judgement for those who have bowed to false gods and turned their back on the One True God. Another theme is that of deliverance. God saves. He is a mighty Saviour, a mighty warrior. God rests with us as we struggle through our sins and the implications they have in our lives and the lives of those around us. He makes no mention of our past sins and he sent Christ to abolish our condemnation once and for all because we belong to him (Rom 8:1). God loves us so deeply that he rejoices in us and rests with us and can't take his eyes off of us simply because we are his. We are his beloved (SOS 6:3), his treasured possession (Deut 7:6), his delight (Zeph 3:17) and his masterpiece (Eph 2:10).

Are you living in the joy of the Lord every day? Do you see yourself as God sees you, without blemish or spot, a son or daughter of the King? Do you need to take time today to rest in God's love?

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