In a world of dishonest and selfish people, even we humans cry for someone to say truth to us. How much more does God cry for honest hearts to communicate with Him?
“The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)
The pagan world around Israel pointed to graven images as their gods. Pagans believed that Baal, Osiris, Lil or Astarte sent lightning and thunder when they were angry, or that when they cried, rain fell on the earth.
The Jews can’t point to an image of their God, because graven images are forbidden. Jews repeat history, tell stories about relationships with their God. God spoke to Abraham, called Moses, and delivered the three Hebrew children.
The God of the Jews relates to His people not by crying rain, but in personal relationships.
The monks at a Benedictine monastery chant the Psalms daily. They recite all 150 of them in a month. It sounds at first like confusion.
Remember the Psalms are cries from the heart, some about comfort and some about unfairness in God’s dealings with mankind.
The monks after a period of time reciting the Psalms begin to realize that someone in the group is identifying with the words of each Psalm. What started out as chaotic dissonance, ended up as individual stories, from individual hearts, rising up to God in harmonious song!
God’s Friends-
- God keeps company with some unusual people. Look at Abraham who lied about his wife and allowed Abimelech to sport with her as his sister.
- Look at Jacob who cheated his brother.
- Look at Moses who murdered.
- Look at David who murdered and committed adultery. Yet all of these men were some of God’s favorites.
- Jacob even was renamed Israel meaning the God-struggler. God’s people truly became the children of the struggle.
- God hung out with Jeremiah, Jonah, and Job who strongly voiced their complaints and opinions.
It seems that God prefers honest expressions of the heart, over dishonest expressions of the mind. He includes them in His conversations and in His plans; even listens to what they have to say!
Could it be that the reason God breaks into song over His people comes down to a personal relationship, rather than a dogmatic formula?
Could our modern churches be at fault leading believers into a mindset of God rewards good behavior, while He punishes bad behavior?
All you have to do is be in covenant with God, and His blessings will flow abundantly into all areas of your life. Hmmm….tell that to Job….
What God really desires is each individual believer to honestly express what is in their heart to Him as their Heavenly Father; whether it is anguish, suffering, sorrow, heartache, loss, being at the end of one’s wits, or expressing joy in song and praise from a thankful heart, in times of blessing and provision and protection.
He already knows that we are not perfect, that we are sinners. This is why Jesus Christ died to pay for our sins. He, as any earthly parent, just wants to hear a honest answer as to why we are struggling to surrender fully to Him.
In other words, what sounds like noise and confusion to us, sounds like a personal relationship to God; causing Him to break into singing over your honesty with Him!