The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Zephaniah 1:2-3,
"I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the Lord. "I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth," declares the Lord."
Here is something to think about: as the Israelites engaged in their idolatry, the judgment that would fall on them at the hand of the Lord for their sin had a terrible impact on life that did not participate in the sin that brought his judgment. What did the animals, the birds and fish have to do with idolatry? Nothing. And yet, there is a consequence for all life when judgment comes from God. Does this make God unjust? Of course not. God defines what is just! As the unsaved share in the blessings of a nation whose population, as a whole, worships God, so the saved will share in the difficulties when a nation is uprooted by God for sin. If God brings reversal to an economy, all suffer. If he brings a foreign intruder, all suffer. Even believers. I'm not talking of eternal consequences here, but I am speaking to our responsibilities as citizens in our nation here and now and what we should be expecting.
Some like to think that God would never touch them if he were to judge the nation for homosexuality or infanticide and abortion. Since they are not homosexuals, since they didn't have an abortion, when God's wrath comes against a nation, somehow it won't effect them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just a cursory reading of the Old Testament reveals that God's wrath impacts everyone when he judges a nation.
Sure, Lot was spared when Sodom was destroyed and God provided for the widow during Elijah's day. But those are exceptions to the nature of things in God's economy. They are examples provided us to teach us something about God. History tells us when the Jews suffered following their rejection of Jesus Christ, it had its impact on the church in its infancy. Paul took up a collection to help out the hungry brothers and sisters who remained in Palestine. We read about it in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Ask Jeremiah how it impacted him when Jerusalem was overthrown by the Babylonians for the Jews idolatry...
Believers should never be intimated by unbelievers when arguments are raised about how our "religious ideas" should not be foisted on others. Get real! We all have a stake in what our nation engages in and we all have a personal stake in how we will be impacted by God if the practices of wicked people go unabated and unfettered in our nation.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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