Be Quiet

Zeph 1:7 "Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; For the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests."

Zephaniah prophesied during the time of Josiah the King. The thing that is interesting is that Josiah was a good man. He attempted to bring Judah back to God, and was successful before he died in battle. (I Chr. 34) Some think that it was at the beginning of Josiah's reign that Zephaniah spoke and began to warn Judah about God's judgment.

Thank God for strong leaders. We have Zephaniah the prophet who spoke the truth and we have Josiah the King who restored the worship of the Lord and Judah changed. This was the covenant Josiah made: "Then the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written this book." After Josiah did this the people followed. But what came first? Zephaniah's words of warning and Josiah's example.

We need that. We need leaders who give us words of warning and then lead by example. We need guys who are not going to sugarcoat the truth, but who are willing to get in our faces and tell us what we need to hear, even if we don't like it. We need people who will take the Word of God and preach and teach it in an uncompromising way and let it do its work. Unfortunately, the church bought into this idea that you have to make people feel comfortable in order to reach them. That is wrong. I am sure that when Zephaniah spoke and told people that God was going to consume them that they did not feel comfortable. I am sure that when Josiah made a covenant before the Lord that it challenged those whose lives were in opposition to that covenant.

Then what? When we hear the warnings, when we see the example, then what do we do? We need to shut our mouths. We need to keep silent in the presence of the Lord God. God's warning is given, God's word is given, God's presence is evident…be quiet.

I am probably guilty of talking too much when I have a microphone at church. I am thankful for the words that God allows me to speak, but sometimes I think that we need to just zip it. We need to let God work in our hearts. We need to take time to be quiet. I mean, God is present. He is there. We sense that He is working and what do we do? We talk. Zephaniah tells us otherwise. We need to keep silent in the presence of the Lord. We don't need to hear each other, we need to hear Him. In fact, this isn't just something that needs to be done in church, it needs to be done in my individual life as well. I am so used to hearing noise. I get in my car and what do I do? Turn the radio on. Why? What does the radio have to tell me that is going to be more important than what God may have to say to me? I know that this is tough. It is a challenge. I am a news junkie and I like to hear what is going on in the world…but there are times when God prompts me to be quite. I need to heed that prompting, turn the radio off and just be silent.

I need to follow Zephaniah's advice and keep silent in the presence of the Lord God.