As believers, Holy Spirit, Christ within us, enables us to understand Scripture. His purpose is to bring illumination of the truth of Jesus to a darkened world. We became the hands and feet of God when we love others as He loves us. To gain understanding we need to listen to His still, small voice in our day to day lives and in our Bible studies.
Zephaniah 3:17-19
The Lord your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
18 “I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly,
Who are among you,
To whom its reproach is a burden.
19 Behold,, at that time
I will deal with all who afflict you;
I will save the lame,
And gather those who were driven out;
I will appoint them for praise and fame
In every land where they were put to shame.
Let your light so shine that others are drawn to God by your good works! Matthew 5:16 Carla
The people of God would be called to sing because their deliverance had come. Daughter of Zion is an affectionate title for the city of Jerusalem. The people are first commanded to abstain from fear, to keep from hanging their arms in a posture of resignation. Instead, they were to take encouragement and strength from the new reality that their God lived among them.
God is going to make all things right. Those who are enemies of God’s truth will be gathered and removed; those who are disenfranchised, God will restore. Ordinarily Scripture speaks of the praise that should be brought to God. Here we find the praise that God will bring to His people. As in the beginning of His dealings with Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 12:1–3), where God promised blessing, honor, and a renowned name, so here God promises fame and praise to each individual in His family. Says the Lord is a solemn vow of God to do what He has promised. Zephaniah begins and ends with the strong assertion that the Lord is speaking. The implication is clear: “Listen and live!” The NKJV Study Bible
Zephaniah’s closing message takes up Yahweh’s promises throughout the book about salvation and restoration, encouraging faith in the future fulfillment of those promises. The call to rejoice is a call to believe in God’s faithfulness.
Yahweh, is in your midst In the Day of Yahweh, Yahweh Himself will reign over the entire earth from Jerusalem (Joel 3:16–17; Zechariah 14:9). The Hebrew term used here for misfortunes , ra’, here refers to calamity or disaster. The inhabitants of Jerusalem should no longer live in fear (Isaiah 13:7–8; Jeremiah 6:24). Faithlife Study Bible
Micah 4:6–7
“In that day,” says the LORD,“I will assemble the lame,
I will gather the outcast
And those whom I have afflicted;
I will make the lame a remnant,
And the outcast a strong nation;
So the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion
From now on, even forever.
Ezekiel 34:16 “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”
Isaiah 63:1
Who is this who comes from Edom,
With dyed garments from Bozrah,
This One who is glorious in His apparel,
Traveling in the greatness of His strength?—
“I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
Let us be this alive…
Which is another way of being reminded that spirituality means waking up.
So. Tell me.
Where are you finding replenishment for your heart and spirit?
What enables you, when despair or cynicism take a toll?
Where are you finding (embracing) moments of joy?
Where are you able to embrace apaixonante?
Where are you able to spill the light of kindness and compassion?
“My feet is tired, but my soul is rested.”
“The world is not respectable; it is mortal, tormented, confused, deluded forever; but it is shot through with beauty, with love, with glints of courage and laughter; and in these, the spirit blooms timidly, and struggles to the light amid the thorns.” George Santayana
Sabbath Moments
Psalm 119:105 (ESV) "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
The psalmist declared that God's Word is a guiding light for life. In the Ancient Near East, nighttime was very dark. With the glow of headlights and streetlamps today, sundown doesn't really stop us from going wherever we want. But before electricity, if a caravan set out at night, travelers had to carry lamps or torches that lit only their next few steps. This is the image the psalmist used for God's Word in Psalm 119:105: "a lamp to [our] feet and a light to [our] path," clearly guiding us one step at a time.
Psalm 119 is a deeply personal and poetic celebration of the illuminating power of Scripture. It's an acrostic poem with 22 stanzas, each beginning with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which was a common method in Hebrew poetry that aided memorization.Though the author is anonymous, many scholars point to David, Ezra, or Nehemiah. Whoever he was, the author's "delight" in God's Word is unmistakable (Psalm 119:14; Psalm 119:16; Psalm 119:24) …every verse in this psalm references God Himself directly, often with the personal address "you" or "your." Psalm 119:105 says, "Your word is a lamp," and Psalm 119:130 echoes, "The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple". First5
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