Enchanted love

Enchanted Love: Know what He knows

Only love can see true beauty. When a man loves his wife, he is ravaged by her beauty.  It will only be seen in his eyes. 

1Jn 4:19  We love Him because He first loved us. 

His love for you and me makes Him see a beauty and value in us no one else can see.

Zep 3:17 The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

This verse has long challenged translators, for the Hebrew it is both rich and mysterious. The phrase “in your midst” literally reads, “the Lord is in your inward parts.”  This speaks not just of His presence near us, but His power dwelling deep within us—the Mighty One within. His presence dwells within us as unmatched power; He is the Mighty One

There is a lot of rejoicing when this happens.  When you first met Jesus, you rejoiced like you never have rejoiced before.  Think back to when you first encountered Jesus: your heart burst with gladness, like falling in love for the very first time. His gaze met yours, His voice whispered love over you, and suddenly life itself changed. You could conquer anything, endure anywhere, and live forever with Him. You found yourself singing, smiling, overwhelmed. You went about your day singing and the corners of your mouth permanently up! The crazy thing, he felt the same way. This is called love. 

But then the text says, “He will quiet you with His love.” How can that be? How do you reconcile wild rejoicing with quietness?  The Hebrew word for “singing”  is “ear ringing”. Not exactly quiet.

The word for quiet is “charash” and its actual meaning is either to be “enchanted” or “bewitched”.   However, there is no real English word to use to express the true nature of “charash”.  This makes it difficult for translators to say enchanted or bewitched.  But we need to see the enchantment of love and from God who is by definition love.  

He is enchanted with our beauty! 

This is the mystery echoed in the Song of Songs, when the bridegroom gazes on the bride:

Son 6:5  Turn your eyes from me; I can’t take it anymore! I can’t resist the passion of these eyes that I adore. Overpowered by a glance, my ravished heart—undone. Held captive by your love, I am truly overcome! For your undying devotion to me is the most yielded sacrifice.  

When a man loves his bride, no voice can dissuade him. Others may say she is not beautiful, even point to women “more fair” by worldly measure, but he sees only her. Love gives him single vision, a heart captivated. 

So it is with our God. The Lord of all creation is ravished by us, His bride. He is enchanted with our beauty. He is held captive by our love.  He doesn’t know who you are talking about when you tell him “I am not worthy”, “I am not lovely”,  “I am a loser” and other ugly self-descriptions.

God is enchanted with you—captivated by a beauty in you that only His love can see. When God looks at you, He does not see flaws—He sees the beauty that His love awakens.  This your secret power to overcome this world. 

 May the Lord reveal to us the fire of His love and passion. His single eye for us that we ravage His heart and hold Him captive with our love. If the God of all creation, is so enchanted with us, then we must awaken to our value in His eyes and be comforted.  We can truly rest in His love. His love is a shield about us.