I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
The prophet Zephaniah prophesies that the day is coming when God will wipe out every trace of idolatry, even if that means wiping humanity off of the face of the earth. He will destroy those who used to worship Him but no longer do. He will search out the darkest corners for those who are complacent in their sin, thinking that God will never find them or judge them. The day of the Lord will be a day of bitter tears, a day of distress and anguish. Those who have sinned against the Lord will not be able to save themselves with their wealth or their strength.
The prophet calls us to gather together and repent of our sins. It is not enough for us to repent individually. It is not enough for us to pray individually. We need to gather together. We need to seek the Lord with humility and to follow His commands. Let us do what is right and live humbly. If we do these things God will protect us from His anger. I will seek to follow this command. I will gather together with my brothers and sisters in the Lord and pray for His Spirit to move in this land and throughout the earth.
The prophet extends his prophecy to all the nations, warning them that God is going to act against them for their sin. He is going to gather the nations before Him and judge them. Then He will purify the speech of all people. On that day He will remove the proud and the arrogant from among us (let me not be found as one of them on that day). Only the lowly and humble who call on His name will remain. Those remaining will never tell lies, nor deceive one another. It will be a day of rejoicing for those who are righteous. On the day of the Lord He will gather together His people and bring them home to Him. I will humble myself before the Lord and do what is right in His eyes so that I might be counted as one of the righteous on that day.
The writer next saw an angel descend from heaven with a small scroll in his hand. The angel cried out with a loud cry and was answered by seven thunders. The writer was told not to record what the seven thunders said in their reply. Then the writer was told to take the scroll from the angel and eat it. He was told that the scroll would be sweet in his mouth but turn sour in his stomach. He ate it and found that to be true. Once he had eaten the scroll he was given prophesies about many nations, peoples and kings. All I can say for sure about this passage is that God has a plan for this world that He will not reveal until the time is come for it to be fulfilled. We will not fully understand God’s plan until that day when we see Him in eternity.
Let me give thanks to the Lord. The second line of this psalm can be taken two ways. I think it should be taken in both senses. The first way is that I will praise before I praise any other item of potential worship, before I lift up praises of something else, I will praise God. The second way is that I will praise God in the face of other items of worship. I will make it clear that I will praise God rather than anything else that might attempt to claim my worship. This is another one of those times where I know exactly what I want to say, but cannot quite get the words to fit together to say it.
I may be surrounded by troubles and everything may appear to be stacked against me, but I will praise the Lord. No matter what may happen or how anyone may work against it (even if I am among that anyone), God will work out His plans for my life. I will praise Him for His gracious, faithful love. The Lord is great and He cares for the humble. Let me not be too proud to consider myself His servant.
The writer of today’s proverb tells us that some are too proud to thank their own mother. They consider themselves better than others and look down on all of those around them. Yet rather than being righteous, as they perceive themselves, they are filthy and unwashed in their sin. There is a theme throughout today’s passages, humility. Let us approach God with humility, recognizing that we are no better than anyone else.