Today’s Tasting: The Book of Zephaniah: This short book of the Bible by the old testament prophet Zephaniah prophesies of the coming dreadful “Day of the Lord” when the earth will be purged of wickedness and evil, and God will restore the remnant of His people.
Zephaniah speaks vividly of the evil that was present in his day, including false idol worship, horrible child sacrifice, and more. He declares that God will come to purge both the land of Israel and the whole earth from the vile actions of mankind just as He did in the days of Noah. But this time He will purge the earth by fire.
Zephaniah speaks of a remnant of followers loyal to the Lord still on the earth. For these God will restore the land as their inheritance and will restore their fortunes in front of them.
Today’s Tasting: What does God require of us? Zephaniah implores us to “seek the Lord … seek righteousness; seek humility” (Zephaniah 2:3). Throughout the scriptures we are told to follow the Lord God and not forget Him, to humble ourselves before Him, trust in the Lord God, draw near to Him, call on the name of the Lord and serve Him, trust in the name of the Lord, love the Lord and love people.
There is coming a day of judgment. We should rejoice that on that day, those of us who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ will be counted among the righteous, because of His sacrificial death on the cross.
However, that does not mean we should be like the world around us. He invites us to be set apart unto Himself. He requires that we do not put anything before our relationship with Him, that we do not worship anything or anyone other than Him. He requires a heart that follows after Him.
Today may we each examine our own hearts. Are we keeping the commandment to love the Lord God with ALL our heart and to serve Him only? To love others as we love yourselves? Jesus said if you truly love the Lord you will love other people (see John 13:34–35). God is love. Let us be imitators of our Father’s love.
Let His love and presence pour through you to light up your corner of this dark world. Be a true representation of the Lord to those around you today—not in self-righteousness but in His righteousness and His deep eternal love. Then, when we stand before the judgment seat (see 2 Corinthians 5:10), we can be sure we will have served Him with a true heart and we will not need to be ashamed.
Be blessed today. He restores us as we seek Him.
Tomorrow’s Tasting: Jeremiah 1–3
June Smith
San Antonio, TX
mjunesmith@gmail.com
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