I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Zephaniah and Haggai.

    When I started reading this, part of me thought it was a prophecy about the coming (at the time it was written) fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, but part of me thought that it was a prophecy concerning the end times, or possibly some combination of both. If this passage is just the first, it contains a lot of hyperbole about what is going to happen. I am generally hesitant to attribute passages to hyperbole, but I know that some biblical writers used it. Having read through this passage several times this morning, my conclusion is that it is both a hyperbolic prophecy concerning the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon AND a prophecy concerning the end of the world. However you read this passage there is a message which you need to take to heart. When God’s judgment comes upon the land in which you live, your wealth will not protect you. The only possible protection from God’s judgment is God Himself. Now is the time to repent and to humbly seek the Lord.

    The message of the prophet Haggai is one we need to heed. All too often we know what God’s will for us is, but think we need to wait until we have accomplished this or that (paid off our college debt, earned enough money, overcome some sin in our lives, etc). Haggai tells us that if we know what God wants us to do, then Now is the time to do it. If we come up with reasons why we need to wait to do God’s will, we will always have reasons to wait. On the other hand, if we do God’s will He will bless us and things will go well for us.