Zephaniah spends two and a half chapters on the day of the LORD, sweeping and dark, and then breaks into the most surprising verse in the prophets: the LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior 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.

God, singing. Over you. Delighted. If that sentence has never reached your emotions, today is its appointment.

Zephaniah's singing God is not a softer deity swapped in at the last minute. He is the same Mighty Warrior from the dark chapters, and the song is what victory sounds like when the battle was for you. Rebuke retired, delight declared, fortunes restored before your very eyes.

John eating the scroll explains the prophet's life between now and then: God's word sweet in the mouth, sour in the stomach, honey and heartburn together, because the message includes both the warning and the wedding. Carry both honestly. But when you wonder how God feels about you on an ordinary Thursday, Zephaniah 3:17 is the answer on file: He is singing.