We have thought on your steadfast love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
As your name, O God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Zion be glad!
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments! Verses 9-11
Day 192
Zephaniah 3:9-13
This is a beautiful passage of Scripture. The devotion title fits it very well, "At Home In God." The verses describe first, what God will do for the returning exiles.
I will turn things around for the people. I'll give them a language undistorted, unpolluted, words to address God in worship and, united, to serve me with their shoulders to the wheel.
Then it speaks of no longer needing to be ashamed of acts of sin and rebellion. This speaks volumes to those of us who are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. Here is a group, a whole nation of people who had been literally kidnapped and hauled off, miles away from their homeland, because of their rejection of God. And now, he is telling them that they don't have to be ashamed of it.
Sin is bad. Sin is ugly. It is rebellion at the deepest core of our nature. But when God brings us home, there is no need to be ashamed of it any more. This is a stunning truth. It is a beautiful truth. And it flies in the face of numerous preachers who use guilt tactics to get their members to respond. God just doesn't work that way.
But here is the result of that.
This core holy people will not do wrong. They won't lie, won't use words to flatter or seduce. Content with who they are and where they are, unanxious, they'll live at peace.
WOW!!
Did you see that? Does that in any way describe today's church?
Looks like we've missed the boat a little, doesn't it?
So how does sin affect us? It causes us to not be like this people described at the end of today's passage. It causes us to be ashamed, even when we don't need to be. It causes us to forget God's forgiveness and mercy. We desperately need to find this attitude that Zephaniah describes here.
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17
Dennis Jernigan discovered this verse over a decade ago in his ministry and paraphrased it this way:
The eternal self-existent God: the God who is three in one. He who dwells in the center of your being is a powerful valiant warrior. He has come to set you free, to keep you safe and to bring you victory. He is cheered and He beams with exceeding joy and takes pleasure in your presence. He has engraved a place for Himself in you and there He quietly rests in His love and affection for you. He cannot contain Himself at the thought of you and with the greatest of joy spins around wildly in anticipation over you...and has placed you above all other creations and in the highest place in His priorities. In fact, He shouts and sings in triumph joyfully proclaiming the gladness of His heart in a song of rejoicing! All because of you!
This was the inspiration for one of our all-time favorite Dennis Jernigan songs, "When the Night Is Falling." The song can be found in a collection that was previously titled "Break My Heart O God." That particular cd is no longer in print, but is included in a compilation that can be found at his website, www.dennisjernigan.com.
Grace and peace, friends!