God Sings Over You

Welcome to today's devotional from Our Daily Bread.

The writer for today is John Blaise, and the reading is titled, God Sings Over You. 17 months after our first child, a boy was born. Along came a little girl.

I was overjoyed at the thought of having a daughter, but I was also a bit uneasy because while I knew a few things about little boys, this was uncharted territory. We named her Sarah, and one of my privileges was rocking her to sleep so my wife could rest. I'm not sure why, but I started trying to sing her to sleep, and the song of choice was You Are My Sunshine. Whether holding her in my arms or standing above her in her crib, I quite literally sang over her and loved every minute of it.

She's in her 20s now, and I still call her Sunshine. We usually think about angel singing, but when was the last time you thought about God singing? That's right, God singing. And furthermore, when was the last time you thought about God singing over you?

Zephaniah is clear in his message to Jerusalem. The Lord your God takes great delight in you, so much that he rejoices over you with singing. Although this message speaks directly to Jerusalem, it's likely God sings over us, those who have received Jesus as Savior, too.

What song does he sing? Well, Scripture's not clear on that, but the song is born out of his love, so we can trust it's true and noble and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Now let's turn our attention to God's Word. This is today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading.

It's from Zephaniah, chapter 3, verses 14 through 17. King daughter Zion, shout aloud, Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter Jerusalem. The Lord has taken away your punishment. He has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you. Never again will you fear any harm. On that day they will say to Jerusalem, Do not fear, Zion.

Do not let your hands hang limp. 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.

Let's pray. Good Father, when we're happy, our hearts are often filled with songs, but the thought that we bring you so much joy that your heart is filled with song is humbling and fills us with joy. Help us to live in such a way that we honor you and give you a reason to sing. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening today. My name is Wes Ward, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.