Zephaniah 3:16-17 (NLT))
16 On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be, “Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid! 17 For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
These are the words of God spoken to Jerusalem by the prophet Zephaniah. In chapter 3 God tells them there has been a strong stance and reproof against the sins they have participated in. Yet God in His mercy and love keeps His promises to reform them, cleanse them from their sins and bring them home to Him. In the verses above we are reminded God takes delight in our gladness. He loves us and desires to take fear from our lives that we may sing joyfully unto Him.
Tony Blair was the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In a 2008 article of Time Magazine, the following was said about him:
Blair is deeply religious—the most openly devout political leader of Britain since William Ewart Gladstone more than 100 years ago. He handles questions about religion deftly. He doesn't back down. His longtime press secretary and consigliere, Alastair Campbell, remembers Blair in 1996 at a school in Scotland where a gunman had killed 16 children and a teacher. In a bloodstained classroom, Campbell asked Blair, "What does your God make of this?" Blair, says Campbell, stopped and replied, "Just because man is bad, it does not mean that God is not good." [1]
Every day we watch sin take place all around us. Turn on the news and it is filled with stories of fraud, conspiracy, and murder. Yet these things are not from God they are from sin that lives in the world. God reminds us through His word not to fear; but take cheer for the Lord is a Mighty Savior living among us who delights in us and our gladness. He allows consequences of sin to take place in order to correct and reprove us. God’s desire is to bring us close to Him, by cleansing our sin and keeping His merciful promises to us.
[1] Time, Tony Blair’s Leap of Faith, by Michael Elliott/Bethlehem, Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1810020,00.html#ixzz0oN3sjetu
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