Category: Indwelling Christ devotionals

The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm… The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3)

Although there were traumas related to the birth and early days of both of our children, what I remember most are the sweet moments of tender attachment and rejoicing during the “babymoon.” As I gazed at our son and then our daughter, I felt deep springs of love pouring out. Amazingly, I didn’t even mind the sleeplessness, for it was a joy to provide for these helpless babes. I started to understand more deeply the Lord’s delight in his people; his love and rejoicing with singing.

We don’t have to be a parent to experience these feelings of great delight. Perhaps we find them through a mentoring relationship. Or through the love we lavish on our nieces and nephews, “adopted” or biological. Or through a close friendship, forged over many years. This nurturing is all rooted in God, and can be seen in his promises made through the prophet Zephaniah during the reign of King Josiah around 600 BC.

Twice Zephaniah says that “the Lord is with you,” and the Hebrew word used here radiates a sense of nearness. Though the Israelites have turned from God, he has redeemed them, forgiven their sins and welcomes them to return to him. He longs to be near them.

This big story of redemption continues, of course, through Jesus. God came near to his people through the incarnation, when his son became man, and again through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He continues to be ever near to his children through Christ’s presence living in them.

May we experience God’s nearness as he rejoices over us with singing.

Prayer: Lord God, in your tender mercy you gave Jesus to shine on those living in darkness and to guide our feet into the path of peace. Come near, we pray (after Luke 1:78–79).

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Ezekiel 36:24–38 (NIV)

A painful broken engagement in my mid-twenties was the catalyst to a long journey of figuring out who I was before God. Realizing that I had nearly joined myself to a man who was completely a wrong fit drove me to delve prayerfully into the deeper issues lurking in my soul. In doing so I came back to God’s foundational truths about how he created us, loves us, and redeems us through the death of his son on the cross.

Each morning I woke up early and pored over the Scriptures; the words came alive and I heard God speaking his love and affirmation to me. They felt like food for my soul, and the early mornings didn’t trouble me.

God was giving me a new heart and a new spirit, even as he promised the Israelites through the prophet Ezekiel. He sprinkled them with water to make them clean on the outside, and then effected an internal transformation by giving them a heart of flesh and putting his Spirit in them. This was all for his glory; their opponents would see them changed, made new and restored to their land. And with his Spirit in them, they would be able to follow his rules for abundant living.

God has created us as his own. He wants to transform us, cleansing us from our anger, hurt, or bitterness, and healing our feelings of being unloved. As new creatures we too can know abundant life through his living water that he pours within, restoring and renewing us.

For prayer and reflection: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:13–14).