Serendipity

For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song.

Zephaniah 3:17

ser·en·dip·i·ty [sèrrən díppətee]

noun

1. discovery of something fortunate: the accidental discovery of something pleasant, valuable, or useful
2. gift for discovery: a natural gift for making pleasant, valuable, or useful discoveries by accident*

It's my all-time favorite word, serendipity. I really don't know why. Maybe it's the way it sounds, the way it rings as it rolls off your tongue: "Serendipity". Maybe it's because it starts with serene and elicits feelings of peacefulness and calm. Maybe it's the child in me that enjoys unwrapping gifts to find out what I got for my birthday. I guess it's in all of us, the desire to discover something pleasant, something valuable, something useful.

Now imagine the thrill I got when I first read Zephaniah 3:17, "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." Oh what beauty! Solomon, for all his lyrical prowess, could not nearly elicit such feelings of love and affection as this verse does. God, THE CREATOR-GOD HIMSELF, takes great delight in me, calms my deep concerns with his love, and sings, actually sings! because of me. What breath-taking wonder!

Now take a step back and try to capture the moment, the emotion behind these words. Remember that time when you fell in love with that special person. Remember the thoughts? the feelings? the butterflies in your stomach? Remember the exhilaration you experienced at the mention of her name? Can you still feel the titillating sensations provoked by the lightest brush of his hand against yours? Their simplest smile brought out the poet in you. Their mildest hurt became your personal pain. Their joys made you dance. Is it then so hard to imagine why someone would so delight in you as to sing a song in your name and give you a loving hug to make you feel safe? Love made you do it and love makes Him to do it.

You see, unlike us, God doesn't get tired of loving. The honeymoon is never over so far as He's concerned. He's just as ready to get up and dance, to take up the guitar and serenade you. He's crazy about you! Yes, there's no greater discovery than to understand God's love. What joy! What beauty! What serendipity!

With love, Doosuur.

*Source: Microsoft® Encarta® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.