Singing
“The Lord, your God, is with you, the mighty who saves. He will take great delight in you, in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing” Zephaniah 3:17
We are each so deeply loved, known, and celebrated. More celebrated than any of us know or ever could imagine.
One of my favorite memories from camp, in general, is the moment at Banquet when all of the counselors stand up on their chairs and sing to the campers. The song goes like this:
“Goodnight my God is watching over you, Goodnight his presence before you, Goodnight and I’ll be praying for you, so goodnight, may God bless you”.
The song is one of the last things that campers here as they leave camp. Most people are deeply moved, if not to tears by the end of the song. This is one of the last chances the counselors have to impart on their campers how much they love them. This has always been my favorite part of Banquet, the moment when every person’s heart is about to burst with all the emotions they are feeling. I remember the overwhelming amount of love I felt when I was a camper preparing to leave camp.
The Bible says that the Lord “will rejoice over you with singing.” What a sweet idea that the Lord delights in each of us so much that it moves him to song. And he does not delight in us because of anything that we have done, or anything that we can do. He delights in us simply because we are His.
Being a counselor helped me to understand why this moment is so powerful - it’s the singing. Singing is special and unique; it was the best way I could express all the love I had for my campers. The Lord does not simply talk over you, he sings over you, and I encourage you to live your life in the truth that the Lord delights in you so much it causes him to sing.