2024 Advent-Christmas Devotions
Tuesday, December 10
Zephaniah 3:17-20
17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
18 as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19 I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
20 At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
“… he will renew you in his love; …”
Love is amazing. The love of one person or a group of people toward another can change lives. I was thinking about a couple I knew when we were living in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. They shared the same apartment complex with us. Newly married, they experienced the same growing pains as most young couples. What made their situation different was the abusiveness of the wife. When they argued, she was typically the aggressor and he the victim.
After some time, the husband was nearing the breaking point. Being friends and neighbors, we suggested an intervention. Gathering with some of their other friends, a counselor, and a few family members, we confronted the woman. Rather than chastisement we offered love. Each of us spoke about how much she was loved, how much each of cared for her, the depth of care and compassion each of us held. Finally, in tears, she not only begged forgiveness, but agreed to the previously rejected counseling help.
A year later, when we moved from the complex, they were doing well. The aggression had ended, the abuse stopped, and they continued together as a couple under the loving care of friends and family.
God’s love is even stronger. When we are willing to recognize, accept, and abide in the love of God, we will be changed. Renewal will happen because God has promised to make us new through that divine love.
Thank you, Lord, for Your abundant and steadfast love which brings renewal and restoration to my life and the lives of all Your people. Amen.