Monday 29th April
Read Zephaniah 3:1-2
“Woe to the city of oppressors,
rebellious and defiled!
2 She obeys no one,
she accepts no correction.
She does not trust in the Lord,
she does not draw near to her God.” (NIVUK)
I am constantly amazed at the deceptiveness of my own heart. My instinct when I read the gospels is to identify with the disciples and Jesus and distance myself from the Pharisees and their rather religious approach to God. I have to consciously place myself in the Pharisaic position in order to hear the message. If there is an escape clause in my conscience, I will find it! I am not sure if that is just me, or if we are all instinctively gentle on ourselves?
Zephaniah provides a rhetorical masterclass in calling out our deceptive hearts. The beginning of the third chapter is no exception. The listeners/readers have been lulled into a relaxed state by the extensive discussion of the judgement that will fall on the nations north, south, east and west of them, perhaps grateful that God’s fire is directed elsewhere. The end of the second chapter has an extensive description of the desolate fate of Nineveh, the ‘happy’ city, where life is good at the expense of the subjugated people of the Assyrian empire.
When a ‘woe’ is called down upon the ‘city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled’ the hearers would no doubt think Nineveh’s broadside is continuing. ‘Yes!’, they say, ‘Hear, hear!’. Stubborn and disobedient? Absolutely! Only slowly will the penny drop that Zephaniah is no longer talking about Nineveh. Nineveh never trusted in Yahweh, or drew near to her God. He is talking about Jerusalem. He is talking about them.
Is he talking about us? The unexamined heart is a dangerous creature. It is only safe when it is humbled. Do we have ears to hear?
