For the joy set before Him....

"What joy fills my heart,  as i look upon you my people. I stand before this throne, of my Father, and i present to Him, the scars of the names on your behalf, and i long for that day, when you will see my face, and i long, i long for that day, when i will show you, the glories of this creation and all i have made.... oh draw near and you will see, and you will hear, all of heaven looking towards that day, and deep will come and i will come back for you.... and you will see my face, and you will see my face..... Rejoice with me, oh my people, oh my beloved ones, how i love you..... oh, you're mine...." - Rhys Scott

I have a lot of sleepless nights these days.... they are strange times when i switch between feeling intensely frustrated and oppressed, to remembering Bible verses and songs and feeling encouraged.... Last night, after having laid there for a few hours i listened to the above song... it was a spontaneous, prophetic song that i had a copy of on c.d..... and as i listened to it i was amazed again that God actually feels joy over His people..... it seems so illogical, when His people are often so messed up and far from Him..... really there is little to rejoice about in them..... but what struck me was the image of God being a bit like an excited kid with a present.... what i mean is, maybe the joy God feels is a bit like the kind of joy you feel when you've got a present or a surprise for someone which you know they will like... maybe God looks at us, in all our mess, and feels excitement and joy, not because there is good in us now, but because He knows what we will be like one day... because He knows Jesus has brought us and made us His... because He knows one day we will see Him face to face and live in freedom from all our problems on Earth.... maybe because His hope is so pure and untainted, because He knows for certain how things will turn out, He looks at everything on Earth through eyes which see things not just as they are now, but as they will be.... when they are all made new.... and maybe, like a little kid who is bursting with excitement at the thought of giving a present to someone, He bursts with excitement as He knows how beautiful everything will turn out in the end..... I kinda like thinking about God like that..... I mean, it must be so strange to be God, as He must be utterly grieved by the sin and brokeness on earth, but at the very same time, He feels joy over how things will be..... anyway, what made God's joy seem more beautiful to me, was the realisation that it is joy which stems completely out of love..... out of a heart that is so pure in it's desires that it looks at broken, sinful people, and rejoices because He knows He has the answer, because He knows He has the perfect plan and perfect remedy for every situation... because He knows how everything fits together and will work out in the end... even when it just looks a mess to us.... so, even before we have received all He has to give us, He rejoices at the hope of what's to come...