When God Sings

“The LORD your God is in your midst
…he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Zephaniah 3.17

Have you ever thought about when God sings? It might not have ever even occurred to you that God sings in the first place, much less to consider what would inspire the Almighty to sing. I don’t think it should surprise anyone that God sings. After all, he made us in his image, and we sing, so it stands to reason that, singers that we are, our Creator would be a singer too.

Now, people sing on all types of occasions and for all kinds of reasons. There are songs of joy and songs of sorrow; songs of peace and songs of war; serious songs and silly songs; songs that tell stories and songs that are nonsense. And, of course, there are love songs. We sing when we are happy. We sing when we are sad. Some of us sing when we are bored. Others of us sing when we are scared. And many of us of course sing when we worship. But what about God, when does he sing?

Well Zephaniah gives us some insight into when God sings, though there may be more to God’s singing than we glimpse here. What we do know from this verse is that God is moved to rejoice and sing over the redemption and salvation of his children. I am sure you have heard that the angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner is saved, but did you know that God himself bursts into song at that moment? At least that is what I infer from reading of God’s exultation over the deliverance of Israel, which this passage in Zephaniah is about. It begins in verse 14 with the people being instructed to sing and shout, to rejoice and exult on the coming day when God delivers them. And, just in case the people might be a little hesitant, the prophet assures them that God himself will be moved to joyful song on that day. We, having been delivered from sin and death through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have already had good reason to sing because we have experienced that day of our salvation.

But do you know what? I don’t believe God holds back for just one day to sing. Most people like to sing or hum or whistle most any old day, music seems to have been hard wired into many of us. Again, I think it is because God has made us in his image, and he himself greatly enjoys music and singing. In fact, I don’t believe a day has ever gone by or will ever go by from eternity past to eternity future when God does not sing. And his song is joyful and victorious, and it celebrates us, it celebrates our salvation. There is no denying that God is exultant over us and for us.

There are many things we share with God because of the way he has made us in his image; I can’t think of many that privilege us to rejoice and share so intimately with the Father more than music and singing. So, if you are making any music today, singing along with your car radio, humming while you work out, whistling while you work, or actually picking up an instrument and playing for an audience, think of the One who is always in your audience who himself loves to make music, and play and sing for him.