Tag: Grace

Morning Musing: Zephaniah 3:8-9

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“Therefore, wait for me — this is the Lord’s declaration — until the day I rise up for plunder. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, in order to pour out my indignation on them, all my burning anger; for the whole earth will be consumed by the fire of my jealousy. 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 ‭3:8-9‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

I remember reading the first Lord of the Rings book when I was in college. The only thing I regretted was that I waited so long to read it. I eventually burned through the second and third books on a single week trip to South Carolina with my family that summer. After finishing the first book, I remember talking to a friend and being absolutely distraught that Gandalf had died in the end. He just smiled a knowing smile and said, “Keep reading.” What He knew was that the story wasn’t over. That’s a pretty good reminder for what we see here.

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Morning Musing: Zephaniah 2:11

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“The Lord will be terrifying to them when he starves all the gods of the earth. Then all the distant coasts and islands of the nations will bow in worship to him, each in its own place.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever joined a club before? You probably have. There are clubs for pretty much every interest you could imagine. Some are open to everyone. Some are more exclusive. Some don’t have very stringent requirements for membership while others are much more personally invasive. If you join one of these clubs, you are expected to adhere to the membership standards whatever they happen to be. What if someone came and tried to penalize you for failing to uphold the rules of a club you never joined? Odds are, you wouldn’t like that very much. With that in mind, let’s talk about this section of Zephaniah.

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Morning Musing: Zephaniah 2:3

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“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 – Read the chapter)

When I was in high school I got to perform in a percussion ensemble for state competition. Our piece was the Mau Mau Suite. I don’t really remember that much about it except it was a lot of fun to play and one of the movements was called “The Gods Must Be Angry.” That idea came to mind when reading this verse. In most human cultures across the ages, much of the activity and decisions of the people were driven by this thought that the gods must be angry. Because they are angry, they must be appeased. How do you do that? Well…it’s hard to say. It serves to make religion and life kind of scary. What we see here gives us a small reminder that the God of the Bible isn’t like that.

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Morning Musing: Micah 7:18-20

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“Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because he delights in faithful love. He will again have compassion on us; he will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show loyalty to Jacob and faithful love to Abraham, as you swore to our ancestors from days long ago.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

When you are writing or speaking one of the things you want to keep in mind is that people will tend to remember the last thing you say better than all the rest. This means you need to make sure to save your best stuff for last. With that in mind, when reading through an individual document in the Scriptures, we do well to pay special attention to what the author saved for the end. That’s the thing he most wants us to keep in mind. So, what do we find at the end of Micah’s collection of prophecy? Let’s take a look and talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Micah 7:9

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“Because I have sinned against him, I must endure the Lord’s fury until he champions my cause and establishes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see his salvation.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you experienced the law of cause and effect? I suspect you have. You do one thing and something else happens. Cause. Effect. Sometimes this law works itself out quickly and obviously. Other times, though, the connection from one to the other is much more difficult to make. This is often because the path from a cause to its effect takes much longer to reveal itself. The challenge here is that when sin is a cause and its effect is delayed, we begin to think that it has no effect. But as Micah warns here, its effect will come.

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