—LIEUTENANT DUNBAR IN DANCES WITH WOLVES

“He will take great delight in you.” God not only loves you; He likes you. Sometimes love can feel like a requirement: I have to love my sister, because we’re in the same family. It’s way more than this for God. He really likes to hang out with you, like a best friend.

He will quiet you with his love.” Often we are quieted with a shout—Hey, shut up! Zephaniah said that God will quiet us with His love. Have you ever been quieted by love? It’s like melting. Finally, “He will rejoice over you with singing.” You make God sing!

Draw a picture of this verse. It doesn’t have to be a great painting, just a simple picture of what it means for you to experience God as expressed by Zephaniah in the verse.

GOD OF LOVE 

Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:5)

Read Romans 5. The book of Romans is in the New Testament. We experience God at a new level in the New Testament, as compared to the Old Testament.

How can you see this new relationship with God expressed in this verse?  

Many Bible versions title sections within the chapter. What title does your Bible version give for this section?

This verse talks about three feelings: hope, disappointment, and love.  

How have you experienced these three?

• Hope:

• Disappointment:

• Love:  

Write about a personal relationship that has included all three.

How is your relationship with God similar to this relationship?

God has called you into a special love relationship, one based on hope. These assurances are building on that hope. But there will be disappointments. There will be times when you disappoint God and times when you are disappointed by Him. It is for those times that He has provided the Holy Spirit to pour love into your being.  

The deepest of relationships experience times of hope, disappointment, and love. These times deepen our love even more.  

THE GOD OVER ALL  

O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. (1 Kings 8:23)

This passage does not live in isolation; it is part of a larger story. It’s a long chapter, but read all of 1 Kings 8 for context. What is the larger story in this passage? Prayer is an important part of our relationship with God. It is one of the primary ways we communicate with Him. This prayer demonstrates that. Verse 23 talks about gods in heaven and on the earth. At the time it was written, many people worshiped idols. For the most part, we do not have statue idols today, though we may still have things in our lives that we treat like idols.  

God in heaven we can understand, but what are gods on earth? What idols do people worship here on earth?  

A covenant is a contract. We have a contract of love with God if we wholeheartedly pursue Him. What does it mean for you to wholeheartedly pursue God?  

Write a covenant of love with God, and include the aspects found in this prayer. Name the “earthly gods” in your life, express how you will continue to wholeheartedly follow the one true God, and so on.

Copied from Memorize This by Mason Rutledge, Copyright © 2003 NavPress Publishing, www.navpress.com. All rights reserved.