Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zephaniah and Haggai.

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The first thing which struck me when I read this is that the prophet who wrote this book is part of the ruling family.  He was a cousin of King Josiah and made this prophecy while his cousin was pushing religious revival.  Zephaniah’s prophecy closely echoed that which Josiah received when he asked about the Book of the Law which had been found during the restoration of the temple.  Zephaniah condemns the people of Jerusalem for the same sins which Jeremiah and Ezekiel would also condemn them: Baal worship, worshiping the starry host, and combining worship of God with worship of Molek (which throughout the Old Testament appears to involve sacrificing one’s children).  He warns that the day is coming when God will bring destruction upon the complacent who think that God will not bring judgement upon them, who think that their wealth and/or political power will shield them from this coming disaster.  Zephaniah says that wealth and power will not provide protection, that only those who humble themselves before God and do what He commands.  If you want shelter from the coming disaster, seek God’s righteousness with humility.  Only the meek and humble who trust in the name of the Lord will survive that coming day.  Zephaniah was speaking of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, but his prophecy should stand as a warning to people of all time.

Now we come to the prophet Haggai, who prophesied after the return from Exile.  He also has a message for all of us.  After returning from Exile the Jews thought that they should wait until they had become economically secure before they began to rebuild the temple.  I do not believe that Haggai’s message calls that completely wrong.  However, the prophet basically says, “How long are you going to use that excuse to not do the Lord’s will?”  And that is the lesson we should learn.  The problem with waiting until our finances, or other economic circumstances, are secure to do God’s will is that we will may always think of more that needs to be secure.  Instead, we should start doing what we know of God’s will for us as soon as we know what it is.  If we don’t do that we will find that our personal circumstances are never right to do God’s will.  I am tempted to list some examples from my life, but I’m afraid that my wife would think they are about her when the problem is not what she has done or not done.  The problems I am thinking of are things I have failed to do, which I need to do so that I can do what God is calling me to do.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.