Divine Joy From Thoughts of God
by John McDuff 1864 How precious are your thoughts unto me, O
God! The Lord your God in the midst
of you is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over you with joy. He will rest in His love. He
will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17. Wondrous thought of God. God
resting in His love. His love not for unsinning angels,
but for fallen redeemed man. The idea is the joy and satisfaction
of one reposing after the completion of some arduous work. God rested
at creation. He rejoiced with joy over a newborn
world. But this was a feeble type of
his delightful rest in rejoicing over the newborn ransomed soul.
There is a beautiful sequence in the verse. It rises to a climax. First, God saves. Then he rejoices. Then he rests, the contemplative
rest of joy. Then, as if this were not enough,
he rejoices over his people with singing. Like an earthly warrior,
first the victory, then the shout of joy, then the calm survey
of the field of conquest, then the hymn of triumph. He rests
in his love. With God, love is a disposition. People may from impulse perform
an act of love. Momentary feeling and emotion,
even in the case of a naturally unloving heart, may prompt to
some deed of generosity and kindness. But God's nature and His name
being love, with Him there can be nothing fitful, arbitrary,
capricious. His love is no wayward and constant
stream, but a deep, quiet, ever-flowing, overflowing river. A word or
a look may alienate and estrange your best earthly friend, but
the friend of friends is immutable. Oh, how intense must that love
be for the guilty and the lost, which is thus spoken of by the
lips of divine filial love. Therefore, says Jesus, does my
Father love me because I lay down my life for the sheep? He
will rejoice over you with singing. As the bridegroom rejoices over
the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. The returning
prodigal is met, not only with the tear and the grasp of parental
forgiveness, but high festival is kept within these paternal
halls. It is fit that we should make
merry and be glad. The gladdest countenance in that
scene of joy is not of that haggard wanderer, but that of the rejoicing
Father exalting over His lost and found Son. There is joy in
heaven among the angels of God over one sinner that repents.
But it is a joy which those spreading through the concentric ranks
and reaching to the very circumference of glory is deepest in the center. It begins at the throne. The
keynote of that song is struck by God himself. So also in the
parable of the lost sheep. See how Christ speaks. as if
he had all the joy to himself of that wanderer's return. He
lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and says, Rejoice with me. The joy of his people is part
of his own. These things have I spoken unto
you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might
be full. God is in the midst of you. He
is mighty. He will save. What more does
any poor sinner need than this? A present God, a mighty God,
a Savior God, able to save, willing to save even more, delighting
to save. The Lord takes pleasure in those
who fear Him. since you are precious and honored
in my sight, and because I love you.