GOD’S WORD FOR JUNE 26 ~ ~ Zephaniah 3:15 ~ ~ “The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
You shall see disaster no more.”
More from John Piper’s “The Pleasures of God”
I ask, “Can you feel the wonder of this today—that God is rejoicing over you with loud singing?”
“No,” you say, “I can’t, because I am too guilty. I am unworthy. My sin is too great, and the judgments against me are too many. God could never rejoice over me”
But I say, “Consider Zephaniah 3:15 (above) God foresees hesitancy. He understands. So his prophet says, “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you!” Can you not feel the wonder that the Lord exults over you with loud singing today, even though you have sinned? Can you not feel that the condemnation has been lifted because he bruised his own Son in your place, if you will only believe?” It is because of Jesus, not you. He is worthy!!!
“No” you say, “I can’t, because there are people who never let me believe this. There are people at work who would make my life miserable if God were my treasure. There are people in my family who would ostracize me. I have friends who would do everything to drag me down. The oppression would be too much to bear, I could never do it.”
But I say, “Consider Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord is a warrior who gives victory”, and verse 19, “Behold, at that time I will deal with your oppressors” and verse 15: “He has cast out your enemies.”
Can you feel the wonder that God is doing everything that needs to be done for you to enjoy his own enjoyment of you? Can you see that the enemies and the oppressors are not too strong for God? Nothing can stop him, when he exults over you with loud singing. Can you feel the wonder of it now? Can you believe that he rejoices over YOU?”
“No” you say, “still I can’t, because he is a great and holy God and I feel like he is far away from me. I am very small. I am a nobody. The world is a huge place, there are major movements that he is concerned with and happy about, and I am too small.”
But I say, consider Zephaniah 3:15, “the king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst” and verse 17: “The Lord your God is in your midst.” He is not far from you. Yes, I admit that this staggers the imagination and stretches credibility almost to the breaking point—-that God can be present personally to everyone who comes to him, and believes on him.
But say to yourself, again and again, HE IS GOD, HE IS GOD! What can stop God from being close to me if he wants to be close to me? He is God! The very greatness that makes him seem too far to be near, is the greatness that enables him to do whatever he pleases, including being near to me.
He said: “I dwell in a high and holy place, AND ALSO WITH HIM WHO IS OF A CONTRITE AND HUMBLE SPIRIT” (Isaiah 57:15)
But STILL you say, “No, you just don’t understand. I am the victim and the slave of shame. I have been endlessly belittled by my parents —and others. (see Zephaniah 2:8 and 10)
It is as though my shame has made me deaf to anyone’s happiness with me, especially God’s. I simply cannot feel it.”
But I say, “I am sure I do not feel all that you feel. I have not been through what you have been through. But God is no stranger to shame. Unbelievable shame was heaped on his Son (Hebrews 12:2), terrible slander, repeated belittling, even from his own townsfolk and family (Matthew 13:55-58).
Therefore, “we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus knows. He feels it with you. Best of all, his Father says right in Zephaniah 3:19, “I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I WILL CHANGE THEIR SHAME INTO PRAISE AND RENOUN IN ALL THE EARTH.”
He makes provision for EVERY question you have!!!!!
Accept Him and trust in His love!