A Joyful God

 

Text: Zephaniah 3:14-20

Focus: Joy

Function: Advent 3,

¹⁴Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
    shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
    O daughter Jerusalem!
¹⁵The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
    he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
    you shall fear disaster no more.
¹⁶On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not fear, O Zion;
    do not let your hands grow weak.
¹⁷The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
    a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
¹⁸     as on a day of festival.”
I will remove disaster from you,
    so that you will not bear reproach for it.
¹⁹I will deal with all your oppressors
    at that time.
And I will save the lame
    and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
    and renown in all the earth.
²⁰At that time I will bring you home,
    at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
    among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
    before your eyes, says the Lord.

Good morning beloved!

I love the Christmas season with the emphasis on hope, love, joy and peace. Today we are focusing on joy.

The scriptures say: “The Lord Loves a cheerful giver” and “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

We know that second part almost intuitively because of Christmas and our practice of giving gifts to one another as an expression of our love.

Giving gifts warms our hearts and brings us joy.

I don’t know what it is, but when we see the happiness, or gratitude on the face and in the eyes of the recipient, our hearts are strangely warmed

My translation titles this passage, a Song of Joy.

And when I was choosing scripture for today, what struck me about the passage, even though it starts our with our reaction to joy which shouting and rejoicing and exaltation, it is more about the joy of God when God gives to us.

Jesus comes to us as our redeemer. He is the one we turn to to set things right. Jesus embodies our hope for justice through the mystery of the cross.

I find his words to the thief who was crucified with him: “Today you will be with me in paradise” to be the embodiment of our hope.

In Christ, God came to earth to give us hope, build our faith and show us how to love. When Jesus says today you will be with me in paradise, he reiterates the hope that we have that there is more to this life than just living and dying, we sense inside of us that we have an eternal soul and that soul is loved and doted over by God.

In our passage today, we read how God delights in saving us. Redeeming us brings God joy. We serve a joyful God, a God of joy.

This is the hope that the Israelites have. They are looking for a redeemer who has the power to forgive them and then deliver them from their oppression.

Jesus came to redeem us and he did it through the example given to us in the way that he died and rose again. It proves to us that we can rest in the power of God to accomplish God’s will through us.

Do you remember the story of the the three men and the fiery furnace and how God used them? The King decreed that they should worship a statue of the king and they refused because they worship the true God.

The king in his anger said: “What God can rescue you?”

And the three men replied this way. “We don’t know if our God will rescue us or not, but we know he can. Regardless, we can’t bow down to the idol.”

I love their faith in God’s power and sovereignty. They trust God because they believe that God can and they also know that they belong to God and God will do with what best suits God’s purpose.

They were willing to die, but the point was their faith in God’s redemption.

In the great chapter of faith in Hebrews we read how people with faith saw great miracles happen like the resurrection of their dead loved ones, armies defeated without using a weapon and other victories. But it also speaks of those who gave their lives as martyrs for the faith or those who endured hardships in faith.

God is God in both situations. God is God during seasons of suffering and victory.

How do we rest in God when we are suffering?

We remember that according to Hebrews 5:8 Jesus learned obedience to God through the things that he suffered. Even though he was a son.

And I find in the midst of suffering that God is present with me with God’s calming presence when I take the time to stop, ponder, pray, meditate, contemplate and sit in silence and listen for that still small loving presence of God in my Spirit to comfort me.

“Comfort me, God” is a yearning of my heart and a constant prayer.

This passage shows us how God delights in doing just that.

God delighted in it so much that God left the throne of heaven, took on human form in the Christ so that he could show humanity the path to peace through love, mercy and forgiveness.

A baby born in a manger, weak and dependent is how the Christ choose to appear to us.

It shows us the potential of God inside of all of us.

Let us enjoy the love of God this Christmas season and all year long.