I’ve been thinking this week of the phrase ‘he will quiet you with his love’, which comes from the book of Zephaniah in the Old Testament. There is so much around us that can stir up agitation in our hearts.

Sometimes this year seems to have lasted for ten; sometimes it seems hardly possible it’s already October. Sometimes it seems it’s been a fruitful time personally; sometimes it seems like it’s been fruitless. Everything is so unprecedented. Every week is different. There has never been a time in my life where Jesus’s advice to take life one day at a time has been so helpful and relevant.

Zephaniah’s short book is all about extreme agitation and distress in the earth. When he says that God will quiet us by his love, he would have been offering great relief to the people in his own community too. I’ve always found it helpful to remember how the Bible speaks to real people in real time who often struggled with very difficult, frightening, even violent circumstances.

The Bible isn’t theory, giving us platitudes and nice memorable phrases – it’s a living history book written through blood, sweat and tears a lot of the time, yes, but also revealing the heart of God to those who hold on, persevere, and remain humble and hungry for his living Presence.

It’s a wonderful thing to be quieted by the love of God. Just pondering the phrase slows down my breathing rate! I think this week it’s a truth I will have written on a card and stuck to my mirror. I love to think of how his love quiets me and gives me rest. Zephaniah also tells me that God sings over me, exults and rejoices over me. What an antidote to discouragement and downheartedness!

How personal is the love of my heavenly Father. He knows my every agitation, every beat of my heart. But his love towards me will quiet me and bring peace when trouble and distress swirls around me like a storm.

Angela Thorne