"I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the LORD. – Zephaniah 1:2

Today's Scripture Reading (June 19, 2026): Zephaniah 1

Space is a crowded place. I recently looked at a list of objects set to make near-Earth approaches over the next few years, and it's extremely long. Almost every day, an asteroid or rogue piece of debris makes a near-earth approach. Although only a few have any real possibility of making contact with our planet, it would only take one to change life as we know it drastically. Most of us are aware that a collision with an asteroid ended the dinosaurs' reign and set the stage for the rise of the human race. What is maybe a little less known is that we know the asteroid that did it. Sixty-six million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid, a 10-15 km wide piece of space rock from beyond Jupiter, struck an area in the Yucatan Peninsula in the Southern part of the Gulf of Mexico. The collision triggered an "impact winter" and a mass extinction event, which affected every corner of the Earth. Many animal species died, including the non-avian dinosaurs. It is worth noting that most Earth-impacting asteroids originate in the inner Solar System. But the Chicxulub asteroid came from beyond Jupiter.

There are many ways life on our planet might end. Some are totally within our control. Global climate change is one. I know there are doubters out there, so maybe I should just say that whatever is making our planet warmer year after year and increasing the number of severe summer storms felt across the planet might end our planet. Of course, Nuclear war is an ever-present threat to our continued existence on the Earth. But these are things we can change, or at least try to change. Currently, the presence of another Chicxulub asteroid would destroy the planet as we know it, and there's nothing we could do to stop it.

Zephaniah gets right to the point. He introduces himself, and the prophet is unique in that he is a descendant of the good King Hezekiah. Hezekiah was King Josiah's great-grandfather, and Zephaniah's great-great-grandfather. But the message that he has come to share was that a time was coming when God was going to wipe away life on the Earth because of sin. We have no idea how this moment might happen. God may allow another Chicxulub-type asteroid to strike Earth. Maybe our experience with the changing climate and an increase in severe storms is God's way of reminding us that he can wipe away life on the Earth. Or maybe it will be something totally unexpected.

Zephaniah's message is that God has the power to wipe away life on the Earth. And he wants to warn his readers that their behavior does matter. They can change the future of the planet by following God's will and caring for everything God has created.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Zephaniah 2