I was reading through the minor prophet, Zephaniah, and I found four traits that he mentions as a downfall of Israel and other nations. Before we get into that, here is just a bit of background information.
Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah in Judah (remember that Israel's kingdom was divided into two: the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah). Judah has seen the northern kingdom taken over by the Assyrians, but they still will not turn back to the Lord and do what is right in His sight. So, in Zephaniah 3:2, this is what is said to the nation,
"She listens to no voice;
she accepts not correction.
She does not trust in the Lord;
she does not draw near to her God."
Now none of these sound like compliments do they? He gives four nice jabs as to part of the reason they are about to experience the judgment of God. Let's take these four things and apply them to our own circumstances. After all, these old testament writings are for an example to us: "We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Corinthians 10:9-11).
1) She listens to no voice.
Another way of translating these Hebrew words is just to say, "She did not obey." Israel acted in rebellion countless times, but this time it landed her facing the Babylonians whom God raised up to punish them.
Are you obedient? You may not have to answer to your parents anymore, you may be your own boss and own your own business, but we are all still under the God of Heaven. When He calls, when He directs, when He leads, are you obedient?
2) She accepts no correction.
Have you ever heard someone say, "they are just uncoachable"? It is never a good thing. A coach never says this meaning "they are too good and don't need any correction." They always use this term to describe an athlete who will accept no coaching. It is not the coach's fault the athlete will not listen.
It was not God's fault that Israel would not listen; they were simply uncoachable. God, His Word, His Holy Spirit are our coaches. They lead us, they draw us, but they also correct us. What do you do with that correction? There have been many times I have been reading the scriptures and something offends me. Why do you think that is? It's because I am being coached by it. I am being corrected by it. Accept that correction and apply it.
3) She does not trust in the Lord.
Now this is a dangerous one. Not accepting correction and not obeying God are proofs that make it clear that we do not trust God. If I trusted God, I would not obey; I would believe that His plan is better than mine and follow. If I trusted God, I would believe that His correction is good for me and is helping me to become more like His son.
Trusting God is handing him everything I have and letting Him handle it. We want so many professionals to handle everything. We need tax pros to handle our taxes, we need financial pros to handle our retirements, etc etc, but when it comes to our life, our personal issues, our struggles we don' hand them over to the one person who can truly make a difference. Trust in the Lord.
4) She does not draw near to God.
If you have been walking with the Lord very long, you are probably aware that this relationship takes effort from you.
"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8
When I stop drawing close to God, He will try to pull me back to Him, but the decision is really up to me to come back. God does not force us to love Him. He does not force us to pursue a relationship, to read His Word, or to pray as we should. Like I said, He will try to draw us back to Him because He wants to be close to us and He knows that is the best place for us to be, but what happens when I ignore all that. What happens if I just cut God off like Israel did?
Well, God punished Israel, and while God may not be preparing an entire nation to come take you out, your fellowship with Him will no longer be sweet. If you are a saved child of God, then you are sealed and saved for an eternity and nothing can take your salvation away, but your friendship with God is no longer at a good spot. I promise you that is not where you want to be.
Draw near to God, dive into His Word, obey His voice, accept His correction, seek His ways, and just walk in the light of His glory and grace.
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