Thought from today’s Bible reading from Zephaniah 1-3.
Zephaniah warned the people of Judah that judgment was coming against them from the Lord. The riches in which they trusted would be taken away. The houses in which they lived would become uninhabited. The blessings of the good land that God had given them would be lost.
“It will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good or evil!’ Moreover, their wealth will become plunder and their houses desolate; yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but not drink their wine” (Zephaniah 1:12-13).
These people had allowed their sinful state to progress to the point in which they would receive God’s wrath because they were “stagnant in spirit.” They were no longer interested in spiritual things. All that mattered to them were those things which were temporal and material. They had no desire to serve the Lord.
How could they reach such a point of spiritual stagnation? They did not believe the Lord would act, either to “do good or evil.” To them, God had become no different than the dumb, impotent idols of the nations around them. If God would not do good, there was no reward to make their service to Him worthwhile. If God would not do evil, there was no punishment to avoid for their wickedness. Therefore, because they believed that God would neither bless or punish them, they had no reason to pay attention to spiritual things.
We must appreciate the fact that God is willing and able to both reward and punish us. Paul wrote, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off” (Romans 11:22).
If we lose sight these two motivators, we will have no reason in our minds to serve the Lord. We will then become “stagnant in spirit,” just as the inhabitants of Judah. In such a state we will be worthy of punishment just as they were. But instead of a punishment in the form of an invading foreign army, we will have to look forward to the “eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
Tomorrow’s reading:Jeremiah 1-3
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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