God Loves You More Than You Love Him

God is more excited about your redemption than you are. Zephaniah 3:14–20 prophesies of the coming day of redemption for God’s people through the gospel of Jesus. It is a day of great joy. And, the joy of some is greater than others. In short, God’s joy in and love for you so outshines your joy in and love for him that when you finally witness it in full, it will quite literally take your breath away. Consider some bits of the passage.

 

The Joy of the Redeemed
Zephaniah 3:14 exhorts you to express your joy fervently:

 

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! (Zephaniah 3:14)

 

God through his prophet gives you three commands: (1) Sing aloud, (2) Rejoice, and (3) Exult. God’s people are a people who must sing and sing loudly! They are a people who must rejoice and exult with all their hearts. In the same way the Great Commandment exhorts you to love the LORD your God with all your heart, Zephaniah exhorts you to sing loudly as you rejoice and exult with all your heart.

Why? Two categorical reasons. Because of your redemption and because of your redeemer. The next verse makes this clear.

 

The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. (Zephaniah 3:15)

 

The three commands of sing aloud, rejoice, and exult have three reasons that we can shuffle into the two categories of redemption and redeemer: (1) the LORD has taken away the judgments against you; (2) the Lord has cleared away your enemies; and (3) the King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst.

 

Your Redemption
First, you sing, rejoice, and exult because of your redemption. Consider the first two reasons that make up your redemption. (1) “the LORD has taken away the judgments against” you, and (2) the LORD “has cleared away your enemies.” Zephaniah makes a word play here that we don’t get in our English translation. The Hebrew word that we translate “take away” conveys the meaning of turn aside. We could translate then, “the LORD has turned aside the judgments against you.” Similarly, the Hebrew word we translate “cleared away” conveys the meaning of turn to. So we could translate “he has turned to your enemies.”

The full effect here is this. In your sin, you were an enemy of God under his rightful judgment. Yet, the promise of redemption in Jesus means that God has turned aside his judgments against you because they have all landed on Jesus. No more wrath for sins remains for you. Thus, as a result, the LORD now turns to all your enemies—sin, Satan and his demonic forces, and death itself—in order that they may feel the full weight of his divine judgment. Because of Jesus, the LORD has turned aside his wrath from you and has turned toward your enemies in his hot, blazing wrath. This is enough in and of itself to lead to great joy. But there’s more.

 

Your Redeemer
Second, you sing, rejoice, and exult because of your redeemer. The third reason in Zephaniah 3:15 doesn’t describe your redemption but your redeemer—the King is in your midst. Notice how the prophet describes the king. He is not merely “the King of Israel.” He is “the King of Israel, the LORD” who is in your midst. This King is YHWH. That is, Jesus Christ your King, the Son of God, dwells in the midst of his people now spiritually, and he will dwell in the midst of his people forever in the new heavens and new earth.

The reasons for joy have piled up so high that you should be boiling over with loud singing, rejoicing, and exulting! You who are in Christ should be the most joyful people because of your redemption and your redeemer. And you should be experts at expressing it with passion. However, there is one whose excitement for your redemption outpaces even your own. Look at what else the prophet has to say.

 

The Joy of Your Redeemer
In Zephaniah 3:17, the prophet moves away from describing the joy of the redeemed and begins to describe the joy of the redeemer.

 

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17).

 

The command to you is to sing loudly, rejoice, and exult with all your heart in your redemption and in your redeemer. And yet, what you read here is that your redeemer—the King, the LORD who is in your midst—also rejoices. And notice what or rather who he is rejoicing in—“he will rejoice over you with gladness.” Specifically, the prophet says (1) he will rejoice over you, (2) he will exult over you, and (3) he will sing over you. The prophet begins to paint a picture for you here.

As you come to the LORD, singing, rejoicing, and exulting with everything you have, he is doing the exact same thing. And what is the result? Is it a joyful back and forth of singing? Surprisingly, no. The prophet says you will actually stop your singing at the sight of the LORD—he will quiet you by his love. The Hebrew word for “quiet” here does not convey the idea of calming down or comforting like you might comfort and quiet a fussy or sad child. Rather, the word conveys the idea of keeping silent. The picture suddenly takes on more color. You come to the LORD with great joy, singing loudly, rejoicing and exulting with all of your heart. But you quickly find that the LORD’s joy completely eclipses yours. God’s delight in you, whom he has redeemed, is so great that it moves you to shocked silence.

 

Stand in Awe of Your Redeemer
God is more excited about your redemption than even you are. And his joy in and love for you will so outshine your joy in and love for him that it will quite literally take your breath away. What does this mean for you? Well, it means that right now for you in Christ, you should worship him with all you have. Specifically, according to Zephaniah, (1) you must sing and sing loudly, (2) you must rejoice with all of your heart, and (3) you must exult with all of your heart. You should express the entire scope of your joy and happiness in your redemption and in your redeemer. But it also means that you should expect in foretaste now and in full flavor in eternity to be moved to shocked silence—hand over your mouth, awe—when you see, experience, and know God’s joy and love for you in Christ that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:17–19). It also means that even when you are not delighting in and rejoicing in him or when you may be tempted to doubt his love for you, he has not ceased to delight in and rejoice in you.

As excited as you may be about your redemption, and as much as you might delight in and love your redeemer, his excitement over, delight in, and love for you far surpasses it. Look at the joy and love of your redeemer, and be moved to silence. Stand in awe of King Jesus, the LORD your God, in your midst.

Silence in Afflictions

[In pain because of God’s discipline for his sin, David prays, “I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it” (Psalm 39:9). While we will consider this verse in the context of the entire psalm on Sunday, the English Puritan pastor Thomas Brooks wrote an entire book based on David’s statement, The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod (1659). Here are some excerpts and the first part of his outline in updated language for your consideration and meditation. You can read the entire book via this link. To distinguish between my words and Brooks’, my paraphrases are in italics – Coty]

Christians, it is mercy, it is rich mercy, that every affliction is not an execution, that every correction is not a damnation.

There is a PRUDENT silence, a HOLY, a GRACIOUS silence; a silence that springs from prudent principles, from holy principles, and from gracious causes and considerations; and this is the silence here meant.

I: What does this silence include?

It includes and takes in these eight things:

First, acknowledging that God is the author of all our afflictions

There is no sickness so little—but God has a finger in it; though it be but the aching of the little finger.

Such as can see the ordering hand of God in all their afflictions, will, with David, lay their hands upon their mouths, when the rod of God is upon their backs, 2 Sam. 16:11, 12. If God’s hand be not seen in the affliction, the heart will do nothing but fret and rage under affliction.

Secondly, acknowledging God’s majesty, sovereignty, might, and authority over us.

A man never comes to humble himself, nor to be silent under the hand of God, until he comes to see the hand of God to be a mighty hand. . . . When men look upon the hand of God as a weak hand, a feeble hand, a low hand, a mean hand—their hearts rise against his hand.

Thirdly, this silence springs from a quiet and calm mind and spirit

Aaron, Eli, and Job. . . saw that it was a Father that put those bitter cups in their hands, and love that laid those heavy crosses upon their shoulders, and grace that put those yokes about their necks; and this caused much quietness and calmness in their spirits.

Some men . . . hide and conceal their grief and trouble; but could you but look into their hearts, you will find all in an uproar, all out of order, all in a flame; and however they may seem to be cold without, yet they are all in a hot burning fever within. Such a feverish fit David was once in, Psalm 39:3. But certainly a holy silence allays all tumults in the mind, and makes a man ‘in patience to possess his own soul.’

Fourthly, this silence springs from acquitting God of all blame or injustice in bringing the affliction on us.

God’s afflictions are always just; he never afflicts but in faithfulness. His will is the rule of justice; and therefore a gracious soul dares not cavil nor question his proceedings. The afflicted soul knows that a righteous God can do nothing but that which is righteous; it knows that God is uncontrollable, and therefore the afflicted man puts his mouth in the dust, and keeps silence before him.

Fifthly, this silence springs from five conclusions about the eventual impact of the afflictions on us.

Five conclusions based on Lamentations 3:27-33

a) The afflictions shall work for their good

Surely these afflictions are but the Lord’s pruning-knives, by which he will bleed my sins, and prune my heart, and make it more fertile and fruitful; they are but the Lord’s potion, by which he will clear me, and rid me of those spiritual diseases and maladies, which are most deadly and dangerous to my soul!

b) Afflictions shall keep them humble and low

c) The rod shall not always lie upon the back of the righteous.

d) God will he have compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies

The life of a Christian is filled up with interchanges of sickness and health, weakness and strength, want and wealth, disgrace and honor, crosses and comforts, miseries and mercies, joys and sorrows, mirth and mourning. All honey would harm us; all wormwood would undo us—a composition of both is the best way in the world to keep our souls in a healthy constitution. It is best and most for the health of the soul that the warm south wind of mercy, and the cold north wind of adversity—do both blow upon it.

e) God’s heart was not in their afflictions, though his hand was.

He takes no delight to afflict his children; it goes against his heart. It is a grief to him to be grievous to them, a pain to him to be punishing of them, a sorrow to him to be striking them.

Sixthly, this silence springs from a conviction from our own conscience to be quiet and still before God

I charge you, O my soul—not to mutter, nor to murmur; I command you, O my soul, to be dumb and silent under the afflicting hand of God.

Peace, O my soul! be still, leave your muttering, leave your murmuring, leave your complaining, leave your chafing, and vexing—and lay your hand upon your mouth, and be silent.

Seventhly, this silence includes a surrendering of ourselves to God while being afflicted.

The silent soul gives himself up to God. The secret language of the soul is this—’Lord, here am I; do with me what you please, write upon me as you please—I give up myself to be at your disposal.’

Eighthly and lastly, this silence comes from a hopeful patience while waiting upon the Lord to work His deliverance.

II: What does this patient silence NOT EXCLUDE

Eight things:

First, this silence does not exclude our feeling the pain of our afflictions

Psalm 39:10-11: [David] is sensible of his pain as well as of his sin; and having prayed off his sin in the former verses, he labors here to pray off his pain.

God allows his people to groan, though not to grumble.

Secondly, this silence does not exclude praying for the end of our afflictions

Thirdly, this silence does not exclude sorrow for our sin that led to the affliction, as well as efforts to crush that sin.

A holy, a prudent silence does not exclude men’s being kindly affected and afflicted with their sins, as the meritorious cause of all their sorrows and sufferings,

In all our sorrows we should read our sins! When God’s hand is upon our backs, our hands should be upon our sins.

Fourthly, such a silence does not exclude teaching others the lessons from our afflictions.

Fifthly, such a silence does not exclude some mourning and weeping

Sixthly, such a silence does not even exclude sighing and groaning

A man may sigh, and groan and roar under the hand of God, and yet be silent. It is not sighing—but muttering; it is not groaning—but grumbling; it is not roaring—but murmuring—which is opposite to a holy silence.

Sometimes the sighs and groans of a saint do in some manner, tell that which his tongue can in no manner utter.

Seventhly, such a silence does not exclude the use of means to end the affliction

We may neglect God as well by neglecting of means, as by trusting in means. It is best to use them, and in the use of them, to live above them.

Eighthly, and lastly, such a silence does not exclude speaking against those humans who have been the earthly cause of our afflictions.

III:  Why must Christians exercise this kind of silence under even the greatest afflictions and trials?

Eight Reasons:

Reason 1. That they may the better hear and understand the voice of the rod.

Reason 2. That they may . . . distinguish themselves from the men of the world, who usually fret and fling, mutter or murmur, curse and swagger, when they are under the afflicting hand of God.

Reason 3, that they may be conformable to Christ their head, who was dumb and silent under his sorest trials.

Reason 4. it is ten thousand times a greater judgment and affliction, to be given to a fretful spirit, a froward spirit, a muttering spirit under an affliction, then it is to be afflicted.

Reason 5: a holy, a prudent silence under afflictions, under miseries, doth best . . . fit the afflicted for the receipt of mercies.

Reason 6: it is fruitless . . . to strive, to contest or contend with God.

Reason 7: [these afflictions] shall cross and frustrate Satan’s great design and expectation.

Reason 8: That we may be like our forefathers in the faith who were patient and silent under such afflictions.

Last sentence in the book:

Thy life is but short, therefore thy troubles cannot be long; hold up and hold out quietly and patiently a little longer, and heaven shall make amends for all.