Reading your Bible for today April 12

April 12: Zephaniah 3:1-7

Key Verse: Zephaniah 3:7
I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me, You will receive instruction’— So that her dwelling would not be cut off, Despite everything for which I punished her. But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds.

Devotion:
We read stories like Jonah and find out about places like Nineveh and Tarshish, or places like Sodom and Gomorrah. We even read in the news about places nowadays where sin is central to the life of the place. But how many times do we realise sin is right here with us. These few verses in Zephaniah are telling us of a city that is filthy, polluted, oppressed and ignoring God. It is telling us of what was going on in Jerusalem!

Just a few hundred years before Christ entered back into that city, it was effectively laid to waste in regards to Christianity. The fear of the Lord had all but disappeared! The priests would continue bringing forward God's Word, but presumably the congregations were getting smaller. It even sounded like the prophets and priests themselves were given to diverse and strange activities. Were they trying to bend the rules to serve the people rather than God?

Yet through this all, God continued to keep them as His people. God continued to keep His promises. God continued to make sure His Word remained true. Christ would soon be coming back into Jerusalem to show them the way. Even though His Word remained true, the people would not be moved by it. Even though the Law was written and taught, people would not follow it. It had even got to the stage where people did not see they were doing anything wrong.

Can you draw any parallels? Can you see how society if moving today? How they want to close down religious schools and places, shut off the teaching of God’s Word from schools... No matter how much God allows things to go wrong in the hopes that people will see their errors, man simply changes the rules and continues on in his ignorance. Oh how we love to forget those things we do not like... But God does not forget. Instead He continues to wait patiently for us all.

Points to Ponder:
Do governments make you angry with their 'personal views' on your life?

God is our judge. He alone stands before us without sin. We must look to Him alone for our guidance.