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

Zephaniah starts out with what I take to be a bit of hyperbole, but might refer to the end of time.  Zephaniah writes that God says that He will wipe all people and animals from the face of the earth.   However, toward the end of his prophecy Zephaniah writes of those who remain will be the lowly and humble who trust in the name of the Lord, which leads me to believe that the beginning is a bit of hyperbole.  That hyperbole does address those who might say, “Well, He can’t kill us all.”  God says to those who say such things, “I will indeed kill all of those who remain complacent in their sin.”   God’s terrible day of judgement is coming for those who do not seek the Lord and humbly obey His commands.

Unlike many of the prophets, Haggai addresses not those who sin, but those who strive to serve the Lord.  The message of Haggai really resonates with me.  I interpret this message in two ways.  We should not wait to get our financial house in order before we start helping others both financially and in other ways.  In addition we should not let the fact that we keep on sinning in one area stop us from doing what we know God wants us to do in another.  In both cases, doing the right thing in one area will make it easier for us to stop doing the wrong thing in another.