The Singing God: Feel the Passion God Has for You...Just the Way You Are

By Sam Storms

God Delights in You

God loves us. With all our faults and failures, with all the secret sins no one else knows about. In fact, He rejoices over us so much that He breaks out in inexpressible joy and song as He thinks about us.



“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” --Zephaniah 3:17



That’s how God feels about you! He looks at you, He thinks of you...and He sings for joy!



In The Singing God Sam Storms explores God's immeasurable love for His children. You don’t need to be different; you don’t need to be better. You just need to know that God loves you just the way you are now...today. When you truly believe this, you will find the strength and incentive to fight sin, experience freedom from shame, and walk in the fullness of all that God desires for you.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Charisma House
• Release date: Feb 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781621362647

Sam Storms

 Sam Storms (PhD, University of Texas at Dallas) has spent more than four decades in ministry as a pastor, professor, and author. He is the pastor emeritus at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and was a visiting associate professor of theology at Wheaton College from 2000 to 2004. He is the founder of Enjoying God Ministries and blogs regularly at SamStorms.org. 

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THE SINGING GOD by Sam Storms

Published by Passio

Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group

600 Rinehart Road

Lake Mary, Florida 32746

www.charismahouse.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked NAS are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., publishers. Used by permission.

People and incidents in this book are composites created by the author from his experiences in ministry. Names and details of the stories have been changed, and any similarity between the names and stories of individuals described in this book to individuals known to readers is purely coincidental.

The quote is from The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God by John Piper, copyright © 1991, 2000 by Desiring God foundation. Used by permission of WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. Any third party use of this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited. Interested parties must apply directly to Random House,Inc. for permission.

Copyright © 1998, 2013 by Sam Storms

All rights reserved

Cover design by Lisa Cox

Design Director: Bill Johnson

Visit the author’s website at www.enjoyinggodministries.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012917858

International Standard Book Number: 978-1-61638-972-7

E-book ISBN: 978-1-62136-264-7

Portions of this book were previously published by Charisma House, ISBN 0-88419-537-6, copyright © 1998.

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication.

Gratefully dedicated to the ministry staff at

Bridgeway Church, with whom it is a blessing

to labor in the pursuit of God’s glory

Contents

Foreword by Mike Bickle

A Parable

Part One: The Heartbeat of a Heavenly Father

1 Why This Book Was Written

2 God’s Passion for His People

3 Is God a Baritone or Bass?

Part Two: Love Songs of the Almighty

4 The Obscenity of the Cross

5 Orphans to Heirs

6 A Clean Slate

7 How Long Will Love Wait?

8 When Love Hurts

9 Singing in a Cesspool

10 A Love You Can Count On

11 Love’s Vice Grip

Part Three: Being Loved and Loving

12 Feeling Loved

13 The Joy of Receiving God’s Love

Addendum: Felt Love in the Life of Sarah Edwards

14 The Singing Saint

15 Loving Those Who Won’t Love Back

16 I Love You, Lord!

Epilogue

Appendix A: Abba! Father!

Appendix B: Does God Love Himself?

Notes

Foreword

IT IS A special pleasure for me to recommend Sam Storms’s book The Singing God. I have known Sam for over twenty years and worked closely with him at Metro Christian Fellowship and Grace Training Center for seven of those years. During that time I have come to enjoy Sam as one of my favorite preachers in the body of Christ today. His messages regularly challenge my spiritual life and increase my understanding of the beauty of God. Sam has a rare and unique insight into the dynamics of God’s kingdom, especially the emotional makeup of God’s own personality and His remarkable capacity to enjoy His people.

The reality of a singing God who is filled with abounding passion and who delights in His people, yes, even broken people, is the central theme of this book. Sam’s skill and knowledge of the Word of God, together with his expertise in church history, have provided him with the tools to speak with persuasion and clarity about this vitally important issue. He esteems the reality and power of our emotions, which reflect the very image of God Himself, without crossing the line into unbiblical emotionalism. He brings us into the embrace of Jesus, who longs for intimacy with us, without bringing us into a weak sentimentalism in our approach to God.

This book is deeply rooted in the scriptures and in Sam’s profound experience of the Lord in his own personal life. Anyone who desires to grow in their passion for Jesus needs to experience the warmth that comes from grasping the beauty and splendor of God’s emotional makeup. Although it may sound strange to some, God really does have feelings for His people. This book explores in a fresh and revealing way how God experiences inexpressible delight over His children and how you can be touched in the depths of your soul with this life-changing reality.

I can also happily recommend this book because I know the fountain from which Sam drinks. As a close friend and former colleague, I have watched his unwavering commitment to biblical orthodoxy and scholarship together with his warm devotion to the person of Jesus and fascination with the unparalleled beauty of the Son of God. Sam is a man who seeks to live and equip the church for a life in the Spirit that is rooted and anchored in the Word of God and the realities of everyday life.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is seeking to make the first commandment first in their life.

—MIKE BICKLE

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Prologue

A PARABLE

FOR AS LONG as he can remember, the little boy had heard people talking about the Great King. Everywhere he went, he listened with rapt attention as they spoke of how big He was and how beautiful and strong. The mere thought of meeting the King would set his heart pounding within his chest. His mouth would dry up, and his palms became sweaty. Still, he knew that if he could only see this Great King, his questions would all be answered, his fears forever relieved, and his life made full. But he didn’t know where to look.

Then one day, quite without warning, the little boy’s eyes were opened. It was light, brilliant, effulgent light. At first he recoiled in fear. Yet he felt irresistibly drawn forward, ever closer to the light. He had never before seen such a scintillating blaze. The sun was a filthy blotch of black coal compared to this glorious beam.

Something inside said it was the light of the Great King, the light of His eyes and of His countenance. Cautiously, but determined, he followed the light to its source. There, upon a throne, sat the Great King. It was a throne of such grandeur and glory that the little boy stood stunned and speechless. He was not alone. At its base had gathered a multitude of others who had also seen the light. They too were in awe of this great and mighty King.

Driven by childlike curiosity, he extended his hand and touched the throne. Just as he thought, it was gold. Yet somehow, for all its wealth and worth, it still seemed beneath the dignity of the One who sat upon it.

Peals of lightning and claps of thunder sounded forth, filling the air with the echo of His commands. The little boy had never heard such sounds, nor had he seen such a sight.

From the throne the Great King ruled the worlds. His word stood fast. None dared speak against Him. None dared challenge His decrees. Neither a hand was raised to thwart His will nor a word spoken to question His purpose.

What a great and powerful King this was! Majesty enthroned! From the first instant his eyes fixed on the Great King, the little boy wanted nothing more than to obey Him. He was determined to learn all of Him that he could. He studied the King, hoping to measure the dimensions of Him whose length is boundless, whose depth is unfathomable, whose height not even the stars can reach.

The little boy would read what others had said of the King. He often committed to memory their descriptions of His brightness and portrayals of His beauty.

Each day the little boy learned something new. His knowledge of the King steadily increased. Others were in awe of the depth of his insight. When they had questions, they ran to the little boy for the answer.

The little boy’s appetite for information was insatiable. More of the Great King was never enough. With each bit of insight, each item of understanding, his grasp of the King grew. But the King was inexhaustible. After years of looking at the King, listening to the King, reading about the King, and memorizing all that his mind could retain, the little boy began to grow tired.

He had seen the King at work and was amazed. He had stood in awe as the King displayed His power in the stars, in the seas, in the souls of men. He had proclaimed to others the majesty and incomparable greatness of the King. But he was tired.

On occasion he had even spoken to the King. He told Him how thankful he was for having been brought to the throne and given the privilege of standing in the presence of so grand a Sovereign. But he was tired.

He wondered silently, "Is He only a King? He never questioned the King’s right to rule. Nor did he doubt the King’s power to enforce His mighty will. Still, though, there was an indefinable hollowness in his heart. Again, he wondered, Is He only a King?"

Then quite unexpectedly, without a word or warning, he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He felt himself being lifted from the ground, higher, and higher. The world swirled beneath him as he reached out to grasp something, anything to hold. But he was only to be held.

Then he realized that it was the King who had taken hold of him, drawing him close. The little boy was frightened. He had never been so close to the King. He had been told that the light of the Great King would incinerate and consume him. Yet he felt only quiet warmth, not at all the burning heat of which he had been warned.

There he was, where he never thought he’d be. Could it really be happening to me? Am I really where I think I am, or is it a dream? It was no dream, no fantasy. Nothing in his life had ever been so real.

The Great King had stooped and picked up the little boy in His arms, placing him firmly on His lap. And there he sat. The fear was gone. The doubts disappeared.

He felt the arms of tender omnipotence embrace his tiny body, holding him close. He tensed. Would he be crushed? He had seen the King destroy those who turned their backs on the light. Would he soon be among them? No. The embrace was not of judgment but of love. The King squeezed the little boy, and he felt himself relax. He knew he was safe. He knew it was OK.

The Great King caressed his forehead and tenderly kissed his cheek. The little boy turned his head, looked up, and gazed into the face of who he thought was the Sovereign. Instead, his eyes fixed on a Father. Was it not the Great King? Yes. And then he knew . . . the Great King was his Father, his Daddy!

Never before had he known such joy. Not during all the years that he studied about the Great King and talked about Him had he so much as dreamed the King could be so loving. He had always thought of the King in terms of strength and authority. This new experience seemed so out of character. But it wasn’t.

He felt the hands of his Father draw him closer still, until his face rested on the breast of this One seated upon the throne. Then he heard it . . . the heartbeat of the Father. The pace quickened. Such throbbing! Such intensity! The little boy feared the Father’s chest would burst!

The little boy had heard the rumbling din of volcanic eruptions. He knew the deafening roar of the awesome cataract. But such sounds were a faint and distant whisper when compared with the loving heartbeat of his heavenly Father!

Then he gazed into the Father’s face, only to see what was to his tiny mind a paradox. Tears poured from the Father’s eyes and streamed down across a beaming smile! How can this be, he wondered, that my Father should seem to groan and yet grin at the same time? Why, of course, said the little boy to himself, they are tears of joy!

As he nestled down into his Father’s lap, relaxed in the firm embrace that he knew would never let go, he heard yet another sound. At first it seemed like humming, soft and slow. Then words . . . the echo of which is now indelibly fixed in his heart. It was the Father singing, yes, the Great King. Oh, what a voice—so full, so rich, so pure! But what was His song? The little boy listened ever more intently to hear what his Father would sing.

What? Had he heard it correctly? Surely not. But, then, there it was again. The same gentle words. The same sweet melody. The same reassuring voice. His Father was singing, over and again, over and again, "My child, I love you!"

The little boy had been stunned by the brilliance of the light. He had stood in awed amazement of the majestic sweep of the King’s sovereign power. But nothing could compare with the joy that rushed gently through his heart when the Father sang once more, Oh, precious child, how I love you!

And with that, the little boy fell soundly and safely asleep in his Daddy’s arms.

Part One

THE HEARTBEAT OF A HEAVENLY FATHER

Chapter One

WHY THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN

ONE OF THE most bewildering scenes in all the Bible occurred on the eve of Christ’s crucifixion. Knowing full well that indescribable agony and torture awaited Him, Jesus turned to His disciples and spoke of . . . joy! These things I have spoken to you, said Jesus, "that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11, NKJV, emphasis added). Faced with almost unimaginable suffering, Jesus could think of little more than His disciples’ joy: both their joy in knowing Him and the joy that flows from being enjoyed by God.

Jesus knew that once He was gone, and the chips were down, and life was hard, and the temptation was to give up, only one thing would keep His followers following. That one thing would be their joy in knowing God’s joy in them. It’s no different for us today. The following story is a perfect illustration.

When Susan finally found the courage to get help, she was on the verge of a complete emotional collapse. It wouldn’t have been the first time. She had been hospitalized once before and was terrified that if it happened again, her family would desert and disown her. I’m losing control, she said with an unmistakable quiver of fear, and I don’t know what to do.

The scary thing about being a pastor and counselor is that I knew Susan was expecting me to know what she didn’t. I wasn’t altogether grateful for this show of confidence! As I listened to her story, I began to feel as helpless as she did.

Susan’s father was a demanding tyrant. His so-called love for his daughter was cruelly and continually dangled in front of her like the proverbial carrot on a stick. His promise sounded tantalizing to Susan but ultimately rung hollow: "If you look pretty, I’ll love you. If you make good grades, I’ll love you. If you are successful and helpful and don’t embarrass me in front of others, I’ll love you."

I’d heard similar stories before. But that didn’t make her words any less difficult to endure.

I was never quite pretty enough, slim enough, smart enough, she said. Susan never did get a bite of that carrot. All she could remember was the bitter aftertaste of her father’s disdain and rejection.

Susan and I spent considerable time working through the destructive consequences of her lack of experience with a father’s love. But we weren’t making much headway. Nothing had the impact we both hoped for until I asked the question "What does God feel when He looks at you?"

Pity, she snapped back, never pausing to think about it.

Why? I asked.

Because I’m pitiful. I’m pathetic.

For the next hour or so I explained to Susan how much God loves her. I labored at finding just the right words to convince her it was true. It was tough going. I explained the depth of His love as expressed in the cross of Christ. I used images, vivid metaphors, and countless word pictures. They all failed. The idea of a loving Father who enjoyed her was incomprehensible to Susan. Nothing seemed to make sense.

Then I had her read Zephaniah 3:17, The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

That’s how God feels about you, Susan! He looks at you, He thinks of you . . . and He sings for joy!

She was stunned. "God sings? God sings? Over me?"

After a few moments of shocked silence tears began to well up in her eyes and eventually streamed down her cheeks. Sam, are you sure?

Yeah, I’m sure.

But I’m so pathetic, she protested. "I really am. I’m thirty pounds overweight, and I’d die if anyone saw the inside of my house right now. It’s almost as messy as I am! My husband is furious at me again. I can’t do anything right. And you say God sings over me with joy? I doubt it! More likely He’s screaming in disgust. My dad used to do that."

Again I asked her to read the passage: The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

The tears returned. If only I could believe it were true. I think then I could face almost anything. If only it were true.

Susan’s reaction to Zephaniah 3:17 was dramatic but not unusual. I’ve seen it again and again. It has led me to a simple but startling conclusion: what makes life livable is enjoying the joy that comes from knowing one is enjoyed by God.

This in no way minimizes our responsibility to love God. The greatest commandment in the Law is that we love the Lord with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind (Matt. 22:37). Not loving God is, therefore, the worst of all human sins. What I have in mind, though, is His love