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
Why is His Presence in our lives so important? What do His prophets understand about His Presence? Experiencing His Presence changes a person. We were made to interact with Him. Our spirit and soul crave for union with His Presence. From the greatest seasoned mighty warrior to the smallest child — we need His Presence in our lives. Most don’t understand Him in the ways those who have had the privilege of being in His Presence.
There are things in the written Word when illuminated by the Spirit of God to our hearts and minds that help us ‘connect’ with Him in ways that show us who He actually is. Here the prophet Zephaniah tells us more about God than most have never considered before. Like… He longs to ‘save’ us, and rejoices over us with a happy heart, and His love will ‘quiet’ our fearful and scared souls with His love, and He loudly sings (?!!!) over us with joy! Ponder that — that God sings over us!
It’s one thing to read something, and another to understand it intellectually, and even more to experience it in every cell of your being. The depths of connection with the Spirit of God surpasses our own understanding. I firmly believe that there is so much that helps us when we allow Him to envelope us with His Presence. How do we allow Him to do that? It’s by our humble submission to Him, and our desire and request for Him to completely submerse, envelope, permeate, and infiltrate every part of our being. This also means all those things we don’t want Him to know about. You know… those secret sins that you think no one knows about deep within your soul. This is why the prophet is constantly bringing the message of repentance. They know by personal experience that the depth of relationship with His Presence has to do with a ‘clean heart’ before Him and that repentance is the only way to achieve that. We have to admit ALL of our faults (iniquities), fears, and sins before Him. Living in a ‘mud hole’ can cause us to constantly require ‘cleaning’. No matter how hard one tries not to get ‘dirty’ living in this place the inevitable happens (our mistakes) and we need to take another ‘shower / bath’ (time of repentance before Him).
Do you want to experience His Presence in a greater way? Be humble and genuine before Him in your ‘secret place’ and pour out everything before Him .. that also means those things you don’t want to look at about yourself and the things the Spirit highlights in your life. Stay in the ‘shower’ till He ‘rejoices’ over you. Get ‘clean’ before Him.
How often do you shower? How often should we go before God in repentance? How much do you want the Presence of God in your life? How deep do you want to experience Him?
Hmmm.. maybe that’s why singing in the shower in so good…for the soul?