Zephaniah 3:17
“The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

This verse is packed with promises. Each line provides the child of God with another source of comfort and strength. These promises will prove to be an antidote to worry, fear, loneliness and despair.

“The Lord your God is in your midst”

Look around, wherever you might find yourself God promises to be with you. The psalmist declared that it is impossible to flee from the presence of God. We find both Jonah and the prodigal son testing this concept. No matter how far they ran or carefully they hid they found it impossible to shake the presence of the Lord. Although you might not see, hear or feel Him, God promises to be with you in the midst of whatever situation you find yourself.

“He Mighty One will save”

God promises not to be a passive observer but active participant in the challenging seasons of life. Zephaniah declares that it is the Lord Himself who will be mighty to save. The word save means to deliver. God has no rival or equal. He stands above all creation and wields His might over every situation. His children have seen seas part, walls fall and provision come miraculously from heaven’s throne. God stands in the midst of the circumstances His children face with the purpose of providing deliverance. His first objective is of course our salvation from sin but He also promises to deliver from the threats we are facing and the trials that seem to consume us.

“He will quiet you with His love”

Another translation reads, “With his love, he will calm all your fears.” Life is scary. When we are young it is the tree branch banging against the window or a shadow in the hallway that fills our hearts with dread. As we age the threats become much more ominous and real. Instead of crying out in the night for our parents we can take shelter under the protective wings of the Love of God. The zenith of His love was expressed on the cross but expressions of that love are available to us daily. When our circumstances lead us to cry out to God, His love beckons Him to our side to quiet or fears and fill us with His comforting peace.

“He will rejoice over you with gladness”

“He will rejoice over you with singing”

Thousands of songs have been written to express love and gratitude to God for who He is and what He has done. One of the great benefits of the weekly gathering of the church is to express corporately in song our love for God. We sing of His grace, mercy, kindness, provision and power but Zephaniah declares that we are not the only one singing. God is also a songwriter and the subject of His love song is His children. I can only imagine what a bellowing voice the God of heaven must have. When He opens His mouth and begins to rejoice over you with a song the heavens themselves must shake under the sway of His powerful voice.

Whatever today holds, don’t forget who it is that is holding you. You don’t have to climb a mountain or make a pilgrimage to find Him. He is in your midst and mighty to save.

Pastor Jim

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Zephaniah 1-3 & Proverbs 21
Old Testament: Zephaniah 1- Privacy Please

Zephaniah 1:5
“Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;
Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord, But who also swear by Milcom”

Zephaniah was commissioned by the Lord to warn the people of coming judgment. In order to prepare the people for what was ahead, he explained the reason they were facing judgment. His message was both clear and simple, they must change their ways if they were to avoid what was ahead.

The first infraction the people were… Read More

Zephaniah 2- Meekness

Zephaniah 2:3
“Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice.Seek righteousness, seek humility.It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger.”

Many things that are highly esteemed in our world have little value in the kingdom of God. We put such a high price tag on appearance, when God tells us that He looks past our temporal frame and into the heart. It use to be, countries… Read More

Proverbs 21- Troubles In Marriage

Proverbs 21:9
“Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop,
than in a house shared with a contentious woman.”

Proverbs 21:19
“Better to dwell in the wilderness,
than with a contentious and… Read More

 

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Habakkuk 1-3 & Proverbs 20
Old Testament:Habakkuk 1- Misguided Theology

Habakkuk 1:13
“You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?”

Habakkuk struggled to understand what was happening in his life, because his theology did not allow for the wicked to prosper and the righteous to suffer. His definition… Read More

Habakkuk 2- Stand Watch

Habakkuk 2:1
“I will stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected.”

Even for those who have committed themselves and their ways to the Lord, life can be tricky. We face difficulties that create confusion in our lives, and… Read More

Habakkuk 3- Prosperous 

Habakkuk 3:17-18
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my… Read More

 

Proverbs 20- Who Is Mr. Clean?

Proverbs 20:9
“Who can say, ‘I have made my heart clean,
I am pure from my sin?’”

Sin is a plague that has infected every man. As Paul explained to the Romans, it was by one man (Adam) that sin entered the world, but that sin spread to all men because all have sinned (Romans 5:12). David, looking out at the world, and looking in at his own heart, declared, there were none righteous, not even… Read More

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Nahum 1-3 & Proverbs 19
Old Testament: Nahum 1- Jealous

Nahum 1:2-3 “God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; the LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies; the LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of… Read More

Nahum 2- A Good Defense

Nahum 2:1
“He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily.”

Nahum wrote to warn Assyria… Read More

Nahum 3- Exception

Nahum 3:8
“Are you better than No Amon that was situated by the River, that had the waters around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the sea?”

It is remarkable how we all think we are the exception to the rule. We believe wrong should be made right, injustice should be corrected, and sin should be punished, but we also believe that our wrongs are not that bad… Read More

 

Proverbs 19- Impulsive

Proverbs 19:2
“Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge, and he sins who hastens with his feet.”

Marketers have realized that people are impulsive by nature. As a result, it is common to find a variety of “impulse items” located near the checkout stand in just… Read More

 

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Micah 6-7 & Proverbs 18
Old Testament: Micah 6- Complaints

Micah 6:3-4
“O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.”

It is not uncommon to hear people complain. If the sun is out, we find it to be too hot, if the clouds fill in, we complain that it is muggy, overcast or dreary. We often sound like Goldilocks, who thought things were too hot, too cold, too hard or too… Read More

Micah 7- I Will Arise

Micah 7:8
“Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be a light to me.“

I have heard a a lot of exercise mantras designed to motivate behavior. They often read a bit like Micah’s… Read More

Proverbs 18- Friends

Proverbs 18:24
“A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Friendship is one of the most important parts of life. We were not designed to live… Read More

 

TODAY’S DAILY READING: Micah 1-3 & Proverbs 16
Old Testament: Micah 1- Prophecy Fulfilled

Micah 1:13
“O inhabitant of Lachish, Harness the chariot to the swift steeds (She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion), For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.”

Micah prophesy’s… Read More

Micah 3- Fully Charged

Micah 3:8
“But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, aneed of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.”

Two things caused Micah to stand out from the false prophets who filled the pulpits of ancient Israel. First, he had received a message from God and second he was energized by the Spirit of… Read More

 

Proverbs 16- Thoughts

Proverbs 16:3
“Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.”

Paul referred to the believer as a soldier, and compared the Christian life to a battle ground. One of the reasons the Christian life is often difficult, is because we are fighting on two fronts. A large part of our battle is seeking to see others impacted for the Kingdom of God. We enter the arena to fight whenever we pray for the unsaved or the backslider. Scripture tells us our weapons are not carnal but they are mighty and able to pull down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). The weapons we have been given are prayer, the Word of God… Read More

TODAY’S DAILY READING:  Jonah 3-4 & Proverbs 15
Old Testament: Jonah 3- Salvation

Jonah 3:9
“Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?”

God has chosen to reveal the plan of salvation through the foolishness of preaching. Nowhere, is that better illustrated than in the story of Jonah. This reluctant preacher delivered a message that turned a nation toward the Lord. As the king heard this message, his heart was stirred to turn from his wicked ways and begin to… Read More

Jonah 4- Who Cares

Jonah 4:10-11
“But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand… Read More

Proverbs 15- Watching You

Proverbs 15:3
“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

I have always been fascinated by the comment Jesus made to Nathaniel when they first met; the Gospel of John records,

John 1:47-48
“Jesus saw Nathanael… Read More

TODAY’S DAILY READING:  Jonah 1-2 & Proverbs 14
Old Testament: Jonah 1- Unnecessary Suffering 

Jonah 1:3
“But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”

The story of Jonah has two main themes. The first is to reveal the heart of God for … Read More

Jonah 2- How Much Longer

Jonah 2:1
“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly.”

Although very few people have ever been swallowed by a great fish, the story of Jonah is still a pretty common one. It tells of a man who refused to do what God called him… Read More

Proverbs 14- Model Home

Proverbs 14:4
“Where no oxen are, the trough is clean;
But much increase comes by the strength of an ox.”

A few years back, when we were looking to purchase a home, my wife and I spent our days off going to open houses and visiting model homes. It was easy… Read More

TODAY’S DAILY READING:  Obadiah 1 & Proverbs 13
Old Testament: Obadiah 1- It’s All Mine

Obadiah 1:17
“But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.”

When Abraham was first called by God, he was given great and precious… Read More

Proverbs 13- Invest In Your Future

Proverbs 13:7
“There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing;
And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.”

Solomon is suggesting it is possible to have earthly possessions and yet to possess nothing of true value. At the same time, it is possible to have next to nothing, and have great wealth. He is not saying wealth is evil and poverty is good, but that within God’s economy, some things… Read More