Symphonic Mystery

Zephaniah 3:17 

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.

Maybe it was on American Idol, on the streets of downtown Chicago, or even in your own house--perhaps you had no idea or maybe you had an inkling that person had it in them from the moment you glanced their way. Whether you can pinpoint a specific person or not, there's no doubt that we all have favorite styles of music and vocal tones. Justin Bieber, Tim McGraw, and Jon Foreman, for example, do not sound the same (at least, let's hope you don't think they do.)

What a rich array of vocal capacities with which God has gifted so many of His children! I find it funny that my friends are all over the spectrum in terms of musical taste. Some people love the rich, creamy vocals of Michael Buble. Others prefer the honest, clean voice of T-Swift, the rustic, rich sound of Tracy Chapman or Adele's sonorous vocals. Maybe grunge, folk, eclectic, hip-hop, or gospel style make you feel alive.

For me, my favorite female vocalist would be Audrey Assad and one of my favorite male vocals comes from Dave Barnes.

I imagine that God has the most resonant, quiet, raspy, solid, ethereal, deep, airy, gentle, powerful, twangy, brilliant, beautiful voice the world has never heard.

I imagine Audrey Assad and Dave Barnes and all of my other favorite artists blended and perfected into a voice that commands my utmost attention and awe. When I hear it unbounded for the first time, there will be tears and laughter and worship and near incredulity.

If the most talented mixer in the world blended every great singer's voices together in the same song, it would  sound awful. The melodies and harmonies may mesh, but the vocal tonal qualities would be too different to be compatible!

Somehow (because He is God after all,) and it is not beyond the scope of imagination, I believe God's voice retains all qualities, somehow unifying them into a symphonic mystery that is a delight to every ear--and best of all, His rejoicing and singing is over us!

Zephaniah, of course, is talking about God singing over Israel, but I bet it applies to us, too. God obviously loves music. He sure put an awful lot of it in this world! It would be no surprise to me, then, that God sings to   and about His beloved children day after day. What a joy that my Savior delights in me in such a way!