The Lord is
"righteous" (Zephaniah 3:5). His people are "rebellious" (Zephaniah
3:1). The people were not served well by their "prophets" and "priests"
(Zephaniah 3:4). Could this situation be turned around? Could the people
be led back from rebellion to righteousness? From the human side, there
is no returning to the Lord. The human side is not all that there is.
There is God - and He refuses to give up on His people: "Then I will
give all people pure lips to worship the Lord and to serve Him with one
purpose" (Zephaniah 3:9). To His people, God says, "I will remove your
arrogance" (Zephaniah 3:11). Rebellious people can be changed by God's
saving grace. How many will return to the Lord? - God speaks about "a
faithful few" (Zephaniah 3:12-13). "They will seek refuge in the Name of
the Lord" (Zephaniah 3:12). Any good thing in us has come from the
Lord, When we consider all that the Lord has done for us, we are to
worship Him - "Sing happily, people of Zion... " (Zephaniah 3:14). What
reasons do we have for singing praise to the Lord? - "The Lord has
reversed the judgments against you. He has forced out your enemies. The
King of Israel, the Lord, is with you" (Zephaniah 3:15). We rejoice in
the Lord, and He takes delight in us - "He... celebrates over you with
shouts of joy" (Zephaniah 3:17).
We read about Elijah in his high-points of strength - the triumph over the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:36-39) - and his low-points of weakness - he is ready to give up: “I’ve had enough now, Lord” (1 Kings 19:4). How did Elijah get into such a mess? He forgot this: “The Lord’s power was on Elijah” (1 Kings 18:46). In all life’s ups and downs, we must hold on to this: The Lord has sent His Spirit of power to live in us (2 Timothy 1:7). How are we to live in the power of the Spirit? We need to feed on the Word of God and drink in the Word of God (1 Kings 17:4). We need to pray that the Lord will send His showers of blessing (1 Kings 17:14). We are to live our life “according to the Word of the Lord” (1 Kings 17:16). For our life of faith to be strong in the Lord, we need to listen attentively to the preaching of God’s Word (1 Kings 17:24).
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