Daybreak: Zephaniah 1:1 through 2:3

Zefania 1-1-2-3

Devotional Focus Verse

Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth,

which have wrought his judgment, seek righteousness, seek meekness.

It may be that ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger.

Zefania 2-3

When I think of seeking the Lord,

the testimony of Jack Robbins comes to mind.

Raised in a mining town where the men drank whiskey and gambled,

Jack was only four years old the first time he got drunk.

Some in his hometown labelled him as

the boy who would come to a bad end.

By the age of 17, he could drink the strongest whiskey,

use the strongest tobacco, shuffle cards, shake dice,

swear like a pirate and fight,

and his life was headed in a downward spiral.

He testified,

I would get good jobs and lose them or give them up,

and then would go back to town to try to drown my troubles with whiskey.

I staggered the streets blurried, defeated,

hopeless, and helpless.

Nobody would hire me.

My life was wasted and ruined.

It was in an old shack on the mudflats in Portland, Oregon,

where I finally met God.

I was dying, a hopeless sight with my eyes sunken in my head,

just the shadow of man I used to be.

I'd walk that place night after night,

as Satan taunted me with your lost, your lost.

I would try to sleep it off, walk it off, drink it off,

but lost, lost, always rang in my soul.

I thank God that in the darkest hour of my life I prayed.

Lying there alone and miserable,

I had time to think about my childhood,

and memories of my mother flooded my mind.

She had taught me about Jesus when I was a little boy,

telling me that if I ever got into trouble and needed a friend,

Jesus could help me.

Somehow, in my despair, those memories got hold of me.

Full of sorrow, pain, and hopelessness,

I sent up an SOS to God.

I crawled out of my bunk,

got down on that dirty old floor,

and asked God to help my miserable soul.

I said, Jesus, won't you help me?

I don't want to go to hell like this.

I prayed not only once, but I prayed night and day.

I determined that if I never got God in my life,

I was going to hell-prain.

I praised God that one night after three weeks,

heaven opened and the power of God

shot down into my dead soul.

Up until that night, the devil had full run of that old shack,

but when God came in, hell and Satan went out.

It seemed that the room was filled with light and peace.

It was the most wonderful night I ever spent.

That night God saved me and changed my life.

God had mercy on Jack Robbins when he sought forgiveness

with all of his heart.

The words of our focus first indicate

that the people of Judah too could have sought

and received mercy.

For Zefania proclaimed that if they would seek righteousness

and meekness, it may be,

he shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger.

While he foretold the coming destruction,

he also offered a means of escape and protection

if only the people would turn from their sins

and walk with God.

Today too, mankind has received warning

of a coming day of judgment.

We thank God for the provision he has made

for a way of escape.

Let's do our best to alert those around us to seek him

and thus take advantage of his provision.

Background information.

Zefania the prophet, whose name means hidden by Jehovah,

administered from approximately 640 BC to 621 BC

during the reign of Josiah, King of Judah, 640 to 608 BC.

Identified in the first verse of the book

as a great, great grandson of King Hezekiah,

Zefania's purpose was to warn the people of Judah

of impending judgment and to urge them to return to God.

Although Zefania's message dealt primarily

with the theme of judgment,

it is characterized as a word rather than a burden,

probably because the message does not predict doom

for a specific nation.

He was one of the last prophets God sent to Judah

before the nation was carried into captivity by Babylon.

In chapter one, the prophet launched immediately

into predictions of judgment.

He warned what Jehovah would do, why he would do it,

and upon whom the judgments would fall.

He proclaimed that judgment would fall

because the people did not honor God's name

see verses four through five.

Did not see God's face, see verse six.

Did not obey God's word, see verse nine,

and did not acknowledge God's rule, see verse 12.

Zefania's proclamation about this tragic situation

was clearly a message of warning.

He told his fellow citizens of the coming day of the Lord

and described three things about that great day.

He announced that it would be a day when

God searches, see verse 12, nothing is hidden from him

and the spiritually indifferent would be found.

God judges, see verses 13 through 18,

the judgment was near, see 114, and inescapable.

God pardons, see chapter two, verse three,

for some that day will hold no terrors.

God himself will hide those who has sought him in repentance.

The fishgate, referenced in verse 10,

was on the northern side of the city

and was the gate through which the Caldian armies

of Nebuchadnezzar, the agent of God's destruction entered.

Mactesh, alluded to in verse 11,

was probably a district of Jerusalem

where business was carried out,

perhaps similar to Wall Street in New York City.

Conclusion, God promises that those who seek him

and his righteousness will escape judgment.

Let's not neglect to avail ourselves of that promise.