Wednesday, July 13, 2011

God's Love Song

I was in a meeting in Minnesota and had the priviledge of hearing an amazing young singer. She is a little tiny thing, with pale skin, long dreds and a powerful voice. Her name is Heatherlyn; she came to offer a few devotional moments before our long day of meetings began.

She introduced herself and began with some fun sing-along stuff that she had written. The mood then turned a little more serious, more contemplative as Heatherlynn talked about reading Zephaniah 3:17. The idea was that we always are singing and praising God, but who knew that God also sang to us. She was amazed when she read this and so wrote a song called God's Love Song. Heatherlyn strummed a tune and sang this chorus to us: "Im singing loudly over you, gladness from my heart; rescue and peace are yours, nowhere else to be found." She helped me hear in these lyrics the all encompassing care of God.

Zephaniah declares "The 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." I, like Heatherlyn, am awestruck by this idea that God would actually sing. Yet, God does not simply sing but raises God's voice in exultation over us puny human beings.

Of course, it is not the concept of God's love that surprises me. Although the way God's love is made manifest is always a surprise. It is the idea that we have a singing God! While Heathelynn has put into words exactly what she believes God is saying, I have been thinking about this ever since.

I suppose this song, this exultation, would sound different for each of us and would vary according to the circumstances we find ourself, or our need. In The Message, the end of the verse is translated, ". . . he'll calm you with his love and delight you with his songs." Just imagine, when in pain we might hear a song of comfort and love in audiable but soft tones. When happy and celebrating, God's song of love might be cheerful and full of joy. When in need of encouragement, a love song of God's could be a gentle but loud and persistant nudge, sung out in an ever increasing crescendo
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Our world is so hectic and full of disasters both natural and manmade. Can you imagine if everyone heard God's love song in their ear how might our world be different?

I don't know about you, but from now on, I will hear God's love song in my ears and rejoice in a God who sings loudly over me.

Just rambling!