God’s Love Is Immutable - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Jehovah thy God is in thy midst, a Mighty One that will save: He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will exult over thee with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17

God's Love Is Immutable
Here we have a wondrous thought: that of God resting in His love, a love not for sinless angels but for fallen, redeemed men! The word implies the rest of someone after the completion of some arduous work. He rested at creation, but that rest is but a feeble picture of His complacent rest and rejoicing over one new-born, ransomed soul.

There is a beautiful sequence in this verse—it rises to a climax! First, God saves, then He rejoices, then He rests, and finally, He rejoices over His people with singing. This love is a disposition of God. People may, even in the case of a naturally unloving heart, perform from impulse some deed of generosity and kindness, but God's nature is love and there is never anything fitful, arbitrary, or capricious in His love. It is no wandering, inconstant stream, but is a deep, quiet, ever-flowing river.

A word or look may alienate your best earthly friend, but God's love is immutable. The returning prodigal is met, not only with the tear and embrace of parental forgiveness, but with festival: . This joy spreads through concentric ranks until it reaches the very circumference of glory, but it is deepest in the very center. It begins at the throne, and the keynote of that song of rejoicing is struck by God Himself!

J. R. MacDuff

Blest Father, infinite in grace, Source of eternal joy,
Thou lead'st our hearts to that blest place, where rest's without alloy.

J. N. Darby