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.”

December 8th, 2021 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Through Zephaniah, God was telling the nations of the earth that there was a coming day of judgment for their sins, but He was also mercifully inviting them to come to Him in repentance. The meek were told to continue to remain repentant so that they would be sheltered in the day of His coming judgment. We understand that this is a continuation of the message of warning from the first chapter, which contains both a near and far fulfillment. Judgment was coming to them in their day, but there is also a far off judgment that has yet to happen. That future day will be a time when many will be hidden because both Hebrews and Gentiles will recognize God’s hand of discipline and cry out to the Lord.

There is an old, funny, supposedly true story from World War II. An American chaplain told of jumping into a foxhole and finding a soldier on his knees clutching a cross he’d just found in the sand. The soldiers said, “Man, am I glad to see you, Chaplain. How do you work this thing?” Many have said that there are no atheists in foxholes, and on the day of the Lord, it is not hard to imagine that many will remember the things they were told about God and will seek Him. And what a gracious God He is, as even at the last minute, the thief on the cross next to Jesus was granted forgiveness and passage into eternity. The prophet Zephaniah is reminding us that those who seek righteousness and humility will find God. And even on that day, the grace of God will be available and active to any who seek Him so that they too “will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

“LORD, we thank You that by grace through faith we are brought into Your Kingdom, protected here, and then taken home to be with You for eternity.”