ZEPHANIAH 3
17 The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
A FORGOTTEN GEM
So, how often have you read this book? Be honest now.
In its closing verses, we have this absolute crackerjack of a verse, and yes it does refer to Jerusalem, but it holds so much for us.
First of all, it states that God is mighty, too often we forget this, we worry and are anxious about every little thing, if only we remembered that the LORD IS MIGHTY
Secondly, he dwells right in the midst of us, in the OT he dwelt in the midst of his people, in the NT, he dwells in his people, this is the glorious truth, whatever we are going through, Jesus is there with us, whether it is a time of grief, a time of joy or a time of suffering. Hebrews 2
Thirdly, he will save. This is something he has done, will do and will continue to do. He saves us from sin at salvation, but also he saves us from making so many bad decisions throughout our lives, through his guidance by his word.
Three things here are totally amazing, we always wonder, what people think of us, when we should be thinking about, what God thinks about us, here in these three short statements is what he thinks about us:
He rejoices over you with joy, you are his child, you are his treasured possession.
The ESV says, he will quiet thee with his love, Jesus says come unto me and I will give thee rest, truly being loved by God is the best thing in the world, it soothes the anxious soul and calms the wounded breast.
He rejoices over you with singing, I can imagine, that this is what the Lord was doing with Job, he was rejoicing over him with singing. This is what we mean to the Lord.
I started this devotion, by saying that this verse, is a forgotten gem, let me finish it, by saying, you are not forgotten believer.
To God you are the richest ruby, the prized diamond, the sparkling sapphire, you were bought with the precious blood of Christ, you are God’s special treasure Ephesians 1:3-14 1 Peter 1
Treasure this verse, treasure its truths, carry them with you and repeat it, next time the devil seeks to tell you, that you are worthless.
Amen
God bless you
KK
ISAIAH 1
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?
I have read many books and none start quite like this, Isaiah jumps right in, it’s like what we say in my home county of Yorkshire, he calls a spade a spade, he gets straight to the point. amen.
The Lord is making clear to Judah, their sin and iniquity, he is making clear his hatred of their so-called worship, which is nothing but idolatry covered up with a veneer of worship.
I wonder if the words of these verses, resonate with you.
They certainly do with me, you may say, oh that is Judea, it’s not like the present day, it’s more like the present day than we think.
Even our sacrifices and our meetings are not acceptable to God, God wants people to worship him in Spirit and in truth John 4:24.
Although Isaiah starts off his book like this, there is hope even amongst this first chapter, look at verse 18:
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
He is always reaching out to his church, however much we rebel and disobey him. What us disobey and rebel against God?
Look at the book of Revelation chapters 2-3, five out of the seven churches were flawed, if that was the ratio then, we should be very worried.
Isaiah though is a book of hope, it is a book that throughout its pages offers a way back, glorious chapters such as Chapter 6, 52-53 and 55, offer glorious hope. Verses that tell of the coming messiah such as Chapter 7:14 and 9:6, bring us hope along with many others.
God is saying to his church in this chapter and in many chapters in Isaiah:
DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?
The point is:
ARE YOU TAKING NOTICE?
GOD BLESS YOU