The Lord your God is with you.
—Zephaniah 3:17
Zephaniah’s little four-chapter book begins with sadness but ends with singing. Its opening salvos trumpet Judah’s looming defeat and captivity. But its closing words promise that one happy day, God will bring the captives back home.
Your life journey will have its share of loss, pain, and grief. But that won’t define the whole trip. “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (Zep 3:17).
When you’re down and out, listen for his song and be calmed by his love, just as an infant is soothed by its mother’s voice and calmed by the security of her embrace.
God’s love doesn’t come and go.
It comes but never goes.