SCRIPTURE: Zephaniah 2
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger. [Zephaniah 2:3]
If you had committed a crime, or owed a huge debt to someone, would you voluntarily go to that person to admit your crime or inability to repay?
Our natural response is to flee, to hide from the truth, to prolong the moment of reckoning as long as possible.
But Zephaniah is urging people to go to the God of justice and wrath and seek His mercy – to admit their problem and their need for help.
All that we see in this chapter is how angry God is for sin, does that make you want to go to Him?

A man who owed (the king) ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. [Matthew 18:24-27]
Jesus tells a parable about forgiveness, and in it describes a man who goes to the king to whom he owes an impossible debt.
And he is forgiven!!!
What both Zephaniah and Jesus are saying is that this God – this God Who rightly ought to punish us for our sin – is prepared to forgive us if we come in humility.
If we admit our sin and guilt and need for mercy, He will forgive us.
He’s that kind of God!
God is love, God is not anger!
His anger is an expression of His love, it is a secondary response that comes because He loves us passionately and hates what evil does in and through us.
He does whatever He can to help us, to restore us, but eventually He will have to punish us if we do not stop.

The whole bible is filled with the message of repentance – to seek the Lord and to seek His kingdom and His righteousness.
When we do, we forgives us our failure and helps us to change.
He gives us His Spirit to transform our hearts into active reflections of His love.
No matter what your crime, what your debt to God, no matter how sinful or guilty you may be, seek the Lord in humility, you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger!

PRAYER:
Lord, focusing on my sin leads to despair. Focusing on Your goodness does not minimize my guilt, but it does give me hope. Help me to come to You, and let You change me!