We have a lot of different kinds of celebrations during our lifetime. We celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and holidays like Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. Each time there is a new celebration, we enjoy the food, the fellowship with others and the general well-being that we have. One of my morning routines is to review scripture verses that I am memorizing and this morning, my focus was on Zephaniah.

Zephaniah is a very short prophetic book but it has a strong message of repentance and turning back to God. According to Biblical scholars, Zephaniah was from the lineage of Hezekiah. If you recall this king’s story, he repented and God added years to his life. Zephaniah probably served as a prophet during the time of Josiah, a time when the people were repented after the reign of the wicked king Manasseh. The storyline of the Israelites seemed to be come to God and repent, turn from God and commit sins, then repeat. Their walk with God was not a steady and committed one, depending on who their king was and how closely they followed him.

This is one of my favorite verses in Zephaniah. Personalize it and it will mean even more to you. “The Lord MY God is with ME, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in ME; in His love, He will no longer rebuke ME, but will rejoice over Me with singing.” I am not one who likes correction, but I am happy that God loves me enough to correct me and set me back on the right path when I stray. If I stay on the right path, He doesn’t need to “rebuke” or correct me, so I need to make right choices to stay on the straight and narrow and keep my focus on following the Lord. The result is amazing! God rejoices over us with singing! Can you imagine the heavenly choir all together singing a song of rejoicing because we are making right choices and delighting the Lord in going the right way? God rejoices over His children who delight Him with right choices. He gives us the ability to choose, but then He steps back and leaves our final decision to follow or to go our own way up to us. And when we choose to follow, He rejoices. Such is the great love of the Father. He is a Mighty Warrior, but He is also our Creator, our Father who loves us so much that He breaks out into song when we do what is right.

This verse shows God’s love, His character and His steadfast presence in our lives. I know that when I make a wrong choice, I can pick myself up, ask God for forgiveness and move on, with Him right there with me, cheering me on to reach for the better way, the life with Him that I strive for daily.

Choose God…choose life…choose to have God rejoice over you!