Today’s Scripture Reading (February 18, 2017): Zephaniah 3
Donald Trump has become our first tweeting President. I have hope that he will eventually get the hang of it. My struggle so far with the President’s tweets is that they are filled with fear. Some of his tweets almost have a character of “If you only knew what I know, you would have trouble sleeping tonight.” The problem with telling us a secret without actually revealing the secret is that we are people with a great imagination. And when someone tells us that we should be afraid, we can make up a lot of things that are just not true of which we can most definitely cause us nightmares. The president seems to want to use fear to get what he wants. A far better tactic would be to tweet in the middle of the night, not that the monsters are at the gate, but that the government is in control; even in the darkest part of the night there is hope for the future.
Zephaniah’s message changes a bit as he finishes up his prophecy. Yes, things are negative, but the day will come, a remnant will remain that has been faithful to God. “On that day” is a formula that speaks of the hope that Israel has; one day the Lord will come, he will save the faithful and take away the punishment. This is essentially Zephaniah’s final tweet to his nation – “Do not fear, Zion.”
We celebrate this coming and present day of the Lord. Jesus has come to lead us into that promised time. Because Jesus has come, there is no reason to fear, no reason to allow our hands to hang limply in depression. God didn’t come to leave us defeated, he came to save. Tomorrow (Sunday) we will celebrate together the day that God came down. Today, celebrate that he came to save!
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 1
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