Keep It Simple

“She has not obeyed His voice, She has not received correction; She has not trusted in the LORD, She has not drawn near to her God.” Zephaniah 3:2. NKJV.

God’s Word is amazing!  It never fails to reveal truth.  It is an inexhaustible reservoir of life and revelation.  I have been reading it regularly for more than 47 years.  It is incredible!  We might become familiar with it, but the Holy Spirit loves to bring to us fresh insight, a new perspective and applicable principles as we read.

That’s what happened the other day as I was reading the book of Zephaniah.  He is one of what’s known as the Minor prophets.

There are major prophets and minor prophets in the Bible.  It’s very simple; Major Prophet – they had a lot to say.  Minor Prophet – they had little to say.

The writing prophets of the OT fall into two groups; the four major prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel – and the 12 minor prophets – Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

Besides these, the OT regarded others as prophets, such as Gad, Nathan, Elijah and Elisha were typical of the non-writing prophets.

Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of the good King Josiah of Jerusalem and was instrumental in bringing revival at that time.  He lived and prophesied in Jerusalem.  The temple was reopened during Josiah’s reign and the book of the law rediscovered.

Our text for this Brief Word may seem negative, which for some isn’t inspiring.  But I always love to flip the negative, and see if there some positive lessons.  On the flip side of every negative there is usually a positive encouragement and lesson.  In this case there sure is.

“She (Judah) has not obeyed His voice, She has not received correction; She has not trusted in the LORD, She has not drawn near to her God.” Zephaniah 3:2. NKJV.

Zephaniah speaks very clearly four things the people had not done.  Here’s four simple lessons, encouragements, insights, positives and truths from today’s text.

Obey His voice.

The Bible is very clear about many things.  Most of the will of God for our life is already revealed in His Word.  Our moral life, social life, prayer, giving, speaking, serving, leading, thinking; is all covered by instructions in God’s Word.

From time to time I read out to myself the following (adapted from a message by Pastor Art Sepuvelda).

This is my Bible.  I am what it says I am, I have what it says I have, I can do what it says I can do and I will be what it says I will be.  I will do what it says to do and I will not do what it says not to do.

So whatever the Bible tells us to do, lets just do those things.  And when the Bible tells us not to do certain things, lets just not do those things.  Keep it simple.

The challenge is not so much on general things, but in the specifics of what God calls us to do.  Is God calling us to go here or there, is this one the one I am to marry, should this or that pathway be the right one for me, etc, etc.  In these things too just as much as in the general things, God can and wants to lead us.  His Word can become our guide and our instructor.

Keep it simple.  When He speaks, just do it.  Let’s just obey God.

Receive correction.

From time to time we all need correction.  We start off on the wrong pathway.  We receive an unhelpful or an erroneous truth that could derail us in the future.  God loves us as our Heavenly Father, so He brings correction, some adjustment to our behaviour, our thinking and our direction.

Let’s not resist or despise God’s correction.  Let’s humbly receive it, surrender to it, and be changed by it.

Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. Job 5:17 NKJV.

For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:12 NKJV.

Keep it simple.  Receive correction.

Trust in the Lord.

Trust is the Hebrew word batach.  (Strongs 982).  It means, to have confidence, be confident, to be bold, to be secure, to feel safe, be careless.

We had a brilliant example of this kind of trust recently.  We were on the plane our way back from Rarotonga to Auckland – we had been very blessed in that we were given the trip; a real blessing.  There was some quite bad turbulence and some people were expressing their fears!  A young mother was on the plane with her two or three year old child.  Well, right behind them a lady was saying “oh no, no, oh no” during the turbulence.  But the little child was saying “wopeeee, wopeeee, wopeeee”.

That child had absolutely no fears or worries during that time.  Mother was there.  Other adults were there.  This is fun!  That child had confidence, security, safety and didn’t have a care in the world!

That’s trust.

Trust in the Lord  with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV.

There are things we just don’t understand about life, what is happening and what God is doing.  In those times, we must just trust!  Our human side wants to know, wants to figure it all out, wants to be informed, and really, wants to be in control.  But God, our Father, encourages us and woos us to lean in on Him.  To let it all go and simply trust.

Then maybe we can enjoy the journey despite the turbulence and we’ll say (worshipfully), “wopeeee”.

Keep it simple.  Just trust the Lord.

Draw near to God.

Many years ago, in a time long past, when our cars had chrome bumpers front and rear, as a passionate new Christian I used to put bumper stickers on my car!  One read, “If you don’t feel close to God, guess who moved?”.  And another one was, “Read the Bible; it’ll scare the hell out of you”.

Well, they didn’t last long.  They got ripped off as I was attending a trade class.

There is some truth in the first one, “If you don’t feel close to God, guess who moved?”.  God is the great unchanging One, He never moves His position in terms of His character, nature, His truth.  We are the ones who move, in our thinking and beliefs, to get closer to God.

However, God’s Word says, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8 NKJV.

When we actively, intentionally and purposefully move towards God, through various things – Bible reading, worship (corporate and personal), prayer, thought life and actions – He moves closer to us!

It’s the simple things that are actually the profound things.  It’s just the simple things, the basic things we need to do.  Sir Peter Blake that great yachting legend, used to always say, “get the basics right”.

Keep it simple; Promptly Obey.  Receive Correction.  Just Trust.  Get Closer.

When I think of mastery, I also think of simplicity. Why?  Simplicity enables focus. – Shawn Blanc.

(Credits – The MacArthur Study Bible. Rightly Dividing The Word, by Ken Legg).