He Will Sing over You

Think of a parent leaning over a cradle late at night, humming a song so quiet only the baby can hear. Now imagine that the one singing is God, and the one in the cradle is you.

We are in Jerusalem, more than six hundred years before Jesus. The king is young Josiah, great-grandson of good King Hezekiah. But the city around him is in a bad way. For years, people have bowed to the sun and the stars on their rooftops. Judges are greedy. Prophets are careless. Priests treat holy things as if they were ordinary. And into this city steps a prophet called Zephaniah, whose name means something like, the Lord has hidden. He is a relative of the royal family, and he has hard words to say.

Most of Zephaniah's little book is a warning. He speaks of a coming day of the Lord, a day of darkness and trouble, when God will search Jerusalem with lamps and deal with everyone who says, the Lord will do nothing, good or bad. He warns the nations around Judah too: Philistia, Moab, Ammon, faraway Cush, and mighty Assyria with its great city Nineveh. No one is beyond God's notice. But in the middle of the warnings, Zephaniah keeps leaving a door open. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, he says. Seek what is right. Seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered.

And then, near the end, the whole tone changes, like clouds parting. God says he will leave in the city a people who are humble and lowly, who trust in his name. They will not tell lies. They will rest, and no one will make them afraid. And Zephaniah bursts into song. “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.” Why? Because the Lord has taken away the judgments against them. He has turned back their enemy. And then the most important line of all: the King of Israel, the Lord himself, is in your midst. You will not fear evil any more.

Listen to how Zephaniah describes God. “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.” We are used to people singing to God. Here, God sings over his people. The mighty warrior who saves is also the one who quiets them with his love. And God makes more promises. I will gather the ones who are grieving. I will rescue the lame and bring home the scattered. I will turn your shame into praise. I will bring you home. Before your eyes, I will restore your fortunes. God was not only going to fix the city. He was going to come and live in it, and rejoice there.

Zephaniah's first verse says he spoke in the days of Josiah. The book of Second Kings tells us what happened in Josiah's reign. While the temple was being repaired, workers found a scroll, the Book of the Law. When it was read to the young king, he tore his clothes in grief. Then he led the people in renewing their covenant with God, and he cleared idols out of Jerusalem and Judah, including the altars on the rooftops. Many scholars think Zephaniah's preaching helped prepare the way for that reform.

You'll find this song at the end of Zephaniah, chapter three, verses fourteen to twenty. Centuries later, God did come and live among his people, as a baby in Bethlehem, while angels sang over the fields. So here is a question to carry with you. How might it change your day to know that God rejoices over you?