Zephaniah 3- Stark Contrast

 ”The righteous Lord is in her; he does no wrong. He applies his justice morning by morning; he does not fail at dawn, yet the one who does wrong knows no shame….

 For I will then restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose.“

‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬, ‭9‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Israel is described here as doing wrong things, and feeling no shame about it.  They have decided that they know better than God, that their sin is actually not a big deal.  That idea is put into contrast with God being just, right and near…while never failing!

That is quite the stark contrast:

- saying that truth is a lie …compared to justice

- actively participating in sin …rather than doing righteousness 

- fleeing from God …as opposed to drawing near

- being characterized as a failure …vs never failing 

It really doesn’t get more opposite than that!  Which of course makes the next verse even more amazing: God says, even though you are the opposite of Me, I will restore you, and transform you to be like Me!

Wow, I don’t deserve that, in fact all the evidence points to the reality that I deserve eternal separation from God.  What a blessing that He allows us to be transformed, to put our trust in Him and gain the ability to obey.

Lord help me to live like this is true!  Help me to see my failures and lay them at Your feet.  I pray that your grace would give me confidence to bring it to you rather than try to hide it.  I ask that you would help me experience your presence, so that I am less tempted to chase after the brief and fleeting moments of pleasure found in sin.

Zephaniah 2- Devine Protection

 ”Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the Lord’s anger.“

‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Zephaniah continues to lay out for Gods people what will happen if they don’t repent, don’t turn from choosing their own way.  Destruction is headed their way and even all their neighbors will be destroyed.  Then in the middle of this rant of devastation Zephaniah gives the antidote in this verse: obey, seek humility and righteousness and then maybe the Lord will protect them…

This was a hopeful message to the people facing Gods wrath (well deserved wrath), but to be honest , it is weak in comparison to the hope that we have in Jesus.  They had to fully change their actions, they had to trust that God was going to give them an exception.  I know that I can try to be humble, try to do right things and work really hard to obey God, but when it is all on me, it doesn’t last very long…I eventually get tired of all that hard work and effort!

What Jesus’s has done for us is live the perfect life, for us.  He has acted in perfect humility and righteousness. He obeyed every command and was even driven by pure motivation every moment of His life.  He did it all because He knows that we cannot do those things.

Then He walked up to me and said, “I have a trade for you!  I will take your broken life, bumps, bruises, infection and devastation and all…and you can have my perfect life.  When God sees you, he will only see my record, everything perfect!  I will take your punishment, your deserved exile so that you never have to endure that suffering…”

That is WAY BETTER than, “if you do it all right, maybe I won’t destroy you”…We are so blessed!  

God help me to live my life in light of this unimaginably truth.  I pray that the joy of knowing what you have done for me would penetrate my heart and purify my motives so that I can worship you with every thought and action!

Zephaniah 1- False Hope

 ”And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who settle down comfortably, who say to themselves: The Lord will do nothing — good or bad. Their wealth will become plunder and their houses a ruin. They will build houses but never live in them, plant vineyards but never drink their wine. Their silver and their gold will be unable to rescue them on the day of the Lord’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy, for he will make a complete, yes, a horrifying end of all the inhabitants of the earth.“

‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬-‭13‬, ‭18‬ ‭CSB‬‬

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Zephaniah was a prophet in the time of King Josiah who became king as a boy.  The priests found the scriptures while cleaning out the Temple and Josiah turned the whole country back to following God.  This must have been written prior to them returning to God because Zephaniah is going on and on about how God will punish them for rejecting Gods path.

Gods people have slowly turned away from following Him, to the point they don’t think that He will ever do anything, good or bad.  They are acting like He doesn’t exist.  They feel safe because they have a home and food and even some good times.  But God is not stopped by these things, in fact it just makes their destruction more devastating.

Lord, help me not trust in my paycheck, or good health.  Let me not find comfort in my possessions or even my service to you.  Help me to rest only in you, in who you are and how you have transformed me.  All of those physical things are fleeting…but my identity in you is forever.  You are amazing to love me, help me to love you and serve you with every thought, action and conversation!