God Is A Happy Husband Series

Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing."

Notice as you examine our text we are studying, that God has clearly positive emotions about those who love Him. He loves them with great delight. He is just like an earthly parent rejoicing over his precious child. We do not always sing a song of joy over our children, but God goes all the way and rejoices over us with singing.Calvin wrote, "He will rejoice over thee with gladness. This must be referred to the gratuitous love of God, by which he embraces and cherishes his Church, as a husband his wife whom he most tenderly loves. Such feelings, we know, belong not to God; but this mode of speaking, which often occurs in Scripture, is thus to be understood by us; for as God cannot otherwise show his favor towards us and the greatness of his love, he compares himself to a husband, and us to a wife. He means in short--that God is most highly pleased when he can show himself kind to his Church." This is a picture of God we need to carry with us at all times to be able to rejoice in the Lord always. He is always rejoicing over us, and we need to be always rejoicing over Him. This is what love is all about. When you love someone you always rejoice over them. I have loved my wife now for 67 years and I have spent a great deal of my time rejoicing over her, and often it is with singing. The following is one of many songs I have written about her.

A LOVE POEM TO A MUCH LOVED WIFE

Glorious stars that dot the night,

How wonderful you are.

But I will shout with all my might,

“There’s a greater wonder by far.!”

It is the wonder of my love

For the wife God gave to me.

For nothing in the heavens above

Are as awesome as is she.

She lightens up my every night.

She gives warmth to me in bed.

She feeds my soul with her beauty bright,

And she makes sure my bodies’ fed.

She meets my need for a best friend,

And makes me glad to know,

Her love for me will never end,

But will ever grow and grow.

There’s so much to be thankful for,

When you find the ideal wife,

For you will love her more and more

Throughout your earthly life.

And when this life is ended,

And we join the saints above,

All that sin broke will be mended,

And we’ll know eternal love.

So the wonder of the starry night

Has nothing to compare

With this wonder, of which I write,

The glorious love we share.

Calvin goes on to write, "God indeed represents himself here as a husband, who burns with the greatest love towards his wife; and this does not seem, as we have said, to be suitable to his glory; but whatever tends to this end--to convince us of God's ineffable love towards us, so that we may rest in it, and being weaned as it were from the world, may seek this one thing only, that he may confer on us his favor--whatever tends to this, doubtless illustrates the glory of God, and derogates nothing from his nature. We at the same time see that God, as it were, humbles himself; for if it be asked whether these things are suitable to the nature of God, we must say, that nothing is more alien to it. It may then appear by no means congruous, that God should be described by us as a husband who burns with love to his wife: but we hence more fully learn, as I have already said, how great is God's favor towards us, who thus humbles himself for our sake, and in a manner transforms himself, while he puts on the character of another. Let every one of us come home also to himself, and acknowledge how deep is the root of unbelief; for God cannot provide for our good and correct this evil, to which we are all subject, without departing as it were from himself, that he might come nigher to us." Calvin is saying that God humbles Himself in playing the role of a mere human man in love with his wife. He sings with joy in His love for her.

Unfortunately, we do not have the lyrics that God sings over us, but I am sure we will hear them in heaven, for God will be singing on some level for all eternity because of the vast number of people who have chosen to love Him forever. Because love is forever, joy will be forever as well, for joy and love are partners in celebration. God will rejoice in us when we rejoice in Him. O. Palmer Robertson comments, “Delight, joy, and singing on God’s part underscore the mutuality of emotional experience felt by God and the redeemed” Heaven and earth ring with joy and singing because God and the redeemed love one another. To miss out on this concert of joy is the greatest mistake man can make. Fall in love with God as He has fallen in love with you, and you will jon an everlasting concert of love and joy. If you think this is a goal worth achieving, let us read on about God's love and joyful singing. Also we need to keep in mind that Jesus and the Holy Spirit join in this song of love and joy. They are the trio of the Trinity singing over us. Each of the other persons of the Trinity join the Father in rejoicing over us. We will not pursue this now but you can easily find Bible verses revealing the joy of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.