#DailyDevotion What Are You Looking Forward To?
#DailyDevotion What Are You Looking Forward To? Zeph. 3 10"From the other side of the rivers of Ethiopia the scattered people who pray to Me will bring Me a present. 11That day you will not have to be ashamed of all the wrongs you did to Me since then I will take away from you your proud and boasting men. And never again will you act proudly on My holy hill. 12But I will leave among you a humble and poor people who will trust in the LORD's name. 13Those who are left in Israel will not do wrong or tell lies, and no deceiving tongue will be found in their mouths, since they will feed and lie down, and there will be no one to terrify them.” The eschatological (end of times) vision continues in chapter 3. I don't think we should expect the vision to look exactly like this. The LORD is conveying a message to us in words and images we can understand. So we have this one image of God's people in distant land who pray to Him bringing Him presents. In Zephaniah's day the ten tribes to the areas north have perhaps already been completely assimilated. Now He looks to the south where some of the Judean refugees will go and are probably still there to this day, from the coming Babylonian captivity. However, this simply stands for the fact the LORD's people on the day of His return will be in many places all across the globe. We indeed turn to Him daily and look forward to His coming. I don't know what sorts of gifts we will bring Him on that day but our hearts, minds, souls, bodies, thanksgiving and praise. Whatever it will be, our LORD Jesus Christ will take care of it. What a great comfort to know that on that day we will not have to be ashamed of all the wrongs we did to our LORD. We have this comfort every time we look at a tree, a post, and the like, knowing that on the tree, our LORD Jesus Christ shed His blood for us, making atonement for our sins. He not only covers them but He takes them away from us. Not only does He take our sins and iniquities away from us, He will on that day take every proud and boastful person away from our presence. We ourselves will no longer boast in the LORD Church of ourselves but our boasting will be of the LORD Jesus Christ and His salvation of us. Who is left on that day of the LORD? The humble and poor people who trust in the LORD Jesus Christ's name. This is what Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” We who put our trust now in Jesus' name, in His works and His promises are such meek people, at least in our inner selves which are being conformed to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. The world we inherit will not be like this one exactly. This is the new heavens and new earth the prophets have proclaimed. It is untainted by our sin. There, Revelation gives the image of the water of life flowing freeing for us to partake. The trees of life bear their fruit every month. It is Eden restored, no greater and better than Eden for it will we the whole earth. He promises us we will no longer fear and tells lies because we will feed and lie down and no one can terrify us. Who terrifies us today? Isn't it the devil and his minions who constantly whisper in our hearts that we cannot trust the LORD so if we want to get what we need and want we have to put ourselves first? Let us not listen to their voices but the voice of our LORD Jesus Christ who promises us He will never leave us or forsake us. He promises the Father knows what we need and provides it. He hears our pleas, cries, petitions, supplications and answers them. Heavenly Father, give us hearts that hear Your promises and hearts that believe in the name of Jesus so we may lead unanxious lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Read the full article













