Zephaniah's Song

Zephaniah's Song
He Quiets Me

Dear friends,
 
Sometimes I have days. Days with disturbance in my emotions or mind. Days when I look up to my Father and ask for mercy and clarity. Last Monday was one of those days. Words that would describe my emotions were “limited, constricted, disquieted.” A friend listened to my heart and prayed for me. I went to my Father’s Word. Ahhh!

I happened to be reading in Zephaniah, a very short book containing the prophet Zephaniah’s warning to Israel about 100 years before their exile. He spoke from God of a remnant of people that would remain, standing strong and faithful through every trial, defeat and loss. And then I came to Zephaniah 3:17… you know… 3:17, that beautiful verse! I had scripted it on an art card. I decided to camp out on the verse for a while and look up the expounding, deeper Hebrew meanings of the words. As usual, WOW! 
 
Here is the verse with the full Hebrew meaning in blue following the word it expounds:
 
Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is in your midst,
A Victorious (saving, delivering, defending, freeing, and bringing into a wide-open, spacious pasture) Warrior who saves!
He will exult of you with joy.
He will quiet you (shaqat’- renew me by quieting me and taking away the disturbance) in His love (ahabah’-a love that emphasizes power, intimacy and covenant)
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy!
 
So, this is how I spoke Zephaniah’s 3:17 Declaration back to Father:
O Lord my God You are in my midst.
You are in me. We are one!
You are a mighty Warrior who has victoriously saved me! You have delivered me, freed me, and You have brought me out of my constricted place into a wide-open spacious pasture of joy!
You exult over me with joy! Wow!  My trust and faith in You brings You joy!
You have renewed my heart by quieting it in Your intimate love for me. 
Your powerful, wooing love had dissolved all disturbance.
I am Yours. You are mine forever!
 
Blessings, love and shalom,
Beth Ann
The Art Card, Zephaniah's song, is available in the Quietness Collection
It is also available as a 4-Pack.

Flower Girl Greetings, magnifying the beauty of God's Word! ©2020, All Rights Reserved.
Shale Fragments™ - devotionals by Beth Ann Phifer is a division of Flower Girl Greetings, LLC. ©2020, All Rights Reserved.