Zephaniah 3:14-20

Skidamarinky dinky dink

Skidamarinky do

I love you

Skidamarinky dinky dink

Skidamarinky do

I love you

I love you in the morning

And in the afternoon

I love you in the evening

And underneath the moon

Skidamarinky dinky dink

Skidamarinky do

I love you

Perhaps, like me, you read the words above and you remember. You remember the first time your grown up sang these words to you. You remember singing them to your child, holding them over your shoulder as you paced back and forth in a dark room where scary things once lurked in deep closets and the monsters that terrified have been evicted.

Maybe these words are completely foreign to you.

Either way, the general sense of these lines is a hybrid between silly and sweet, an almost lullaby, but definitely a reminder that whomever the words are directed toward is cared for, is important, is loved. The monsters are gone and it is ok to be ok right now. Feel free to google ‘skidamarinky dinky dink’ and listen to any of the covers that come up. It has been around in some way or another since 1910. Hopefully, it makes you smile whether new or old.

This is the song I think God rejoices over us with. This is the song God sings to the ones who have been rescued and gathered and pulled together from the wrack and ruin of our desperation. God calms us and wins for us. God’s word to God’s people through Zephaniah’s powerful prophetic words has been one of judgment toward those who have treated others with contempt and cruelty. Zephaniah has reported that God hates injustice. He says God will upend those who continue to take and use and malign and shame. But the upheaval is never the end. God’s victory comes with more.

Because the restoration, the renewal always follows. It follows for those who have been faithful all along, who are finally able to see the fulfillment of the promises they have trusted for. It follows for those who repent and are willing to turn away from evil. It follows for those who have been maligned and bruised and broken and hurt. The Redeemer redeems. And once redemption has occurred, there is always rejoicing.

You would expect the rescued to rejoice, after all they are the ones who have seen the monsters dispelled.

But just as a parent who clears the closet or under the bed will rock and console and reassure their little one that all is right and restored, God sings and rejoices over us. God shows us where our hope can be found, shows us that justice and beauty are possible.

Zephaniah doesn’t explicitly detail the song God sings. But the people Zephaniah is describing have been through a lot. They have been tired. They have been rejected. They have been shamed. God applies the salve of restoration through gentle silly sweet music and rejoices that we have been redeemed.