Tag: Judgment

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: Zephaniah 1:12-13

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“And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who settled 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.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Lisa and I have recently been watching through a series that popped up on our Hulu account called “Extreme Homes.” The show takes viewers inside a whole variety of houses that are “extreme” in one way or another. Some are small, some are huge, but they are all unique. But while they come in all shapes and sizes, the one thing they all have in common is that they are owned by people who are wealthy. They are homes built with the intention of being able to set aside all worries and concerns and just enjoy life. In many ways, that’s not just the American dream, but the dream of everyone, everywhere. Based on what God says to the people of Judah here, though, it sounds like it might be more of a nightmare.

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Digging in Deeper: Zephaniah 1:8-9

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“On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice I will punish the officials, the king’s sons, and all who are dressed in foreign clothing. On that day I will punish all who skip over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

All religion is just superstition given official sanction. Something along those lines is a common critique of religious people and their religions. And, to a certain extent, there is a small amount of truth to it. Religious people often do buy into any number of silly superstitions. Also, not a few religious rituals are little more than dressed up superstitions. But to paint with such a broad brush is to risk missing a key observation: The God of the Bible hates superstitions just as much as your scientific, secular neighbor professes to hate them.

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Morning Musing: Zephaniah 1:4-5

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“I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the residents of Jerusalem. I will cut off every vestige of Baal from this place, the names of the pagan priests along with the priests; those who bow in worship on the rooftops to the stars in the sky; those who bow and pledge loyalty to the Lord but also pledge loyalty to Milcom.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I have some good friends, a married couple, who live in a divided house. What I mean is that one of them cheers for one college team, and the other cheers for their arch rival. Oh, they get along just fine. But when the two teams play each other things are just a little more interesting than usual. The thing about these divided-house situations, though, is that while each partner may tolerate living with fans of their rivals, they don’t usually start actually cheering for them. Instead, they tend to double down on their commitment to their own team…sometimes just to get under the skin of each other. Trying to cheer for each at the same time would just be weird. God agrees…sort of.

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