The LORD your God is in your midst,

.... The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).  One of the names of Christ  is Emanuel, that is God with us (Matthew 1:23), but God is also in us (1 Corinthians 6:19).  And it being close to Christmas, the four advent themes of  hope, peace,  love and joy jumped out for me from this passage. Our hope is in the Mighty One, and He will save (glorification), He did save (justification), and He is saving (sanctification).  As I told the boys at the recovery meeting last night,  I want as my higher power, to be  the Mighty One who spoke and stars were flung into space (Genesis 1:3; John 1:3).  He is our hope!

When we come to Him as a little child,  He will indeed quiet us (give us His peace) with His love.  A little child is in no doubt about its dependence,  and in the midst of the trauma and crises of life, will immediately run to mummy. When we do that too,  the motherhood of God,  implicit in the comfort of the Holy Spirit,  will settle,  establish  and quiet us, as we become still and know that He is God (Acts 9:31; 1 Peter 5:10; Psalm 46:10).  And He does it all through His love. The little child,  having run to its mother, not only finds peace, but also experiences love in that embrace.  We too are intended to experience His love in His embrace.  But we will not feel that if we are overtaken with the World's hype over Christmas.  We need to slow down, and come to Him. Yes I know we are busy, but we make time for what is important to us. And for me these times of mediating on Him and His Word, out of which this blog flows,  are essential.

It's amazing to think of Him  rejoicing over us with singing.  But I remember sining over my baby son “Little man, little man, little pal of mine. Little man, little man, Daddy thinks you're fine. Little man, little man Daddy love you so. You're my fella, your my boy, Daddy's pride and joy.”  I was rejoicing (joy) over him with singing.  We can learn so much about God from our children. If I who am flawed can do things like this  is it such a stretch to think that God does it?  God so loved that He gave ..... It's not about earning His love, its not about performance. I love my son because he is my son.  And as many as believe in Him He gave the right to be called His children (John 1:12). Hallelujah!

Father, thank You that You promised never to leave us nor forsake us. Thank You for the hope You give us concerning both eternity and the here and now. Thank You for the peace You give, and that You have loved us with an everlasting love. Thank You for joy. For many of us Lord,  we are still in sorrow, but thank You for Your promise that though sorrow may last for the night, joy comes in the morning. Help us Lord as we approach the celebration of Your birth, to enter into it with hope, peace,  love and joy, and help those of us for whom Christmas is a very difficult time to set our hope on You. We give You praise and thanks in Jesus Name Amen