Zephaniah Chapter 3, verses 1-7:
Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.
Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
I have cut off the nations: their towers are desolate; I made their streets waste, that none passeth by: their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant.
I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.
The stories of the Bible can be used to guide us. With Israel we can see that God speaks to them and deals with them as a nation. God can deal with us the same way. So the lesson of the story applies to our life right now in these modern times.
Israel ruined their spiritual life. The people of God had decided to go their own way and live their own life as they pleased which in turn ruined their own lives as they became more ad more separated with God. ‘but the unjust knoweth no shame.’ This is how to ruin our spiritual life.
During our lives God blesses us and we become used to this and when life starts looking good or at least acceptable we can forget God and move on doing our own thing. Then when things start to go wrong we cannot understand why, and it is because our spiritual life has gone downhill. People can decide to go for the idols of life and look to them for material satisfaction instead of the satisfying spiritual satisfaction of God’s ways.
Zephaniah Chapter 3, verse 2:
She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.
Israel was God’s chosen people, you are God’s chosen person. God wants the best for you. We can get so far from God that we become spiritually dry and life becomes rocky and barren, lost of spiritual life and growth. By getting far from God we can even forget that we are being disobedient to God because what we are doing becomes second-nature, and it is what everyone is doing so it is accepted – even though it is morally wrong.
We need a humble loving heart and a willing soul to keep loving and following God through all things that happen to us and we need to be strong when the temptations come.
Discipline is for our own good and we should accept it humbly because we know that our life was once wrong and we need to get back to following the right ways of life and not the ways of the lost and confused. Disobedience is when we start to accept the ways of the world and refuse to follow God anymore or simply when we forget God for the ways of our old friends and family. Disobedience is the way to ruin. God warned the people over and over again, being slow to anger and patient and full of mercy.
The people payed no attention to God’s correction and God’s warnings.
Zephaniah Chapter 3, verse 7: ‘
Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.’
Their hearts had become hardened when they really needed to repent. They began to trust in other things and not trust God anymore. Disobedience is followed by unbelief and not trusting God. Their faith was now in people lost in their own ways.
Our walk in life is to show our trust in God. When people see us they know that we are a shining example of God and His ways of goodness, forgiveness and mercy.
The Israel people even with corrections and warnings and punishment went on with their own evil doings from when they woke up. They didn’t understand what shame was anymore and they new no shame of their evil doings and they taught their children and young to grow up in their evil ways.
Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 6:
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Nothing should be put before the good ways of God. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
But God will only take things away if we are disobedient and finally He has lost patience with a lost people. Trusting other things brings disappointments. The people deserted God, turned away from God and rejected God and this showed in the ways of their lives and in the lack of blessings.
As in those days today we can find preachers who follow sin and they convince us that it is alright to sin and still be in the good books with God. This is simply lost preachers preaching a lie, they will get their rewards for leading the people astray, just be sure that you have not accepted the sinful ways of the lost and foolish willfully sinning preachers of today. Following these false preachers is the end of our spiritual life. We shouldn’t expect blessings with disobedience.
God gives many warnings and hopes that the people will listen to his teaching and to His prophets. Israel didn’t listen to God’s prophet, they ignored God’s Word, they walked away from God’s ways. Are you listening today?
Living as a Christian is not automatic. Satan attacks from all angles and we must be prepared for that. We must forever keep to our walk with God and not veer off the narrow path.
As we can see with Paul in the New testament God was very gracious to Paul and forgave Him. God will also forgive you, so if you have gone off the tracks get back right with God.
All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
24th of March, 2013.