Day of the LORD
Similar to the Book of Nahum, the message of the Book of Zephaniah primarily centres around the day of the Lord (see Zephaniah 1).
Zephaniah 2:4-15 describes the punishment of God against the foreign nations. God sees and hears all the wrongs that they have done (Zephaniah 2:8).
Even among the people of God, He will search them out with lamps, punishing those who have an evil heart (Zephaniah 1:12). Indeed, the Lord searches our hearts and tests our minds - not even an evil thought can be hidden from Him (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
No one can hide himself from our Almighty and omnipresent God (Jeremiah 23:23-24).
Yet, if we want to be hidden on the day of the Lord, there is only one solution.
Seek the Lord
"Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord’s anger."
Zephaniah 2:3 NKJV
The name "Zephaniah" means "Hidden by the LORD".
When we think of being hidden in the Lord, or hiding/taking refuge in the Lord, we often think of it in the context of hiding from the difficulties and trials of life.
However, from Zephaniah and Nahum we see that we also need to take refuge in the Lord from His wrath. (Nahum 1:3-7).
If we want to be hidden from the wrath of God, we need to truly seek after God. To seek after God's justice and righteousness, to seek after meekness and humility.
We can contrast this with the Moabites and Ammonites who made arrogant threats against the people of God (Zephaniah 2:8, 10), or with the Assyrians who saw themselves as God (Zephaniah 2:13-15).
Yet, we might still be wondering, why do we need to seek after the Lord?
The Bible tells us that God is a God who hides Himself (Isaiah 45:15). All the sins and wrongs that we do separate us from God, hiding His face from us (Isaiah 59:1-2).
He hides from us, hoping we realise that we have fallen short of His righteous standard. He hopes that we humble ourselves before Him, that He may revive and restore us (Isaiah 57:15-18).
What God desires our willingness to sacrifice and pursue after Him, just like the man who sells all he has to buy the field with hidden treasure (Matthew 13:44).
Amidst the hustle and bustle of life, amidst our joys and disappointments, let us learn to seek God and take refuge in Him (Hos 5:15), that we may be hidden in the day of the Lord.
