The Day

Zephaniah 3:20 At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes,” says the Lord.

Days can seem to blur together, can’t they? Have you found yourself wondering what day it is today? I know I have. This timeless existence during our lockdowns and staged reopening is getting old. We long for the days of exhaustion after a hard day’s work. We long for the monotony of the same old things day after day. Well, maybe not!

And yet, we still lose track of time without the structure that has become so familiar to us.

When we were kids we learned the days of the week as a way to help keep our parents from going nuts. If we had an event on Saturday and it was only Monday, they taught us the days to help us stop bugging them. “Is the party today?” “No, today is Monday. Then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Then Saturday is the party.” And the cycle would repeat on Tuesday.

Once we learned the days of the week then a simple, “It’s on Saturday” would suffice. Now they could at least for a few moments find a modicum of peace. They probably also wanted us to be a little bit smarter and knew we had to learn the days of the week, but I think their real motivation was to get us to stop asking questions! At least I remember thinking that when our kids were small!

I think days can become very important when very difficult times happen. When there is intense suffering and pain we want days to pass quickly. If we know there is an end date to the suffering we count the days.

So it is with the Jews living in Jerusalem before their exile to Babylon. The nation seemed to be falling apart right before their eyes. The victories of the past just don’t seem to happen anymore. The presence of the LORD is curiously absent. Where is the God who protects and saves?

Zephaniah is speaking at just such a time. He is called by the LORD to announce judgments against all the earth because of their rebellion and non-repentance. And this didn’t exclude His own people. What a sad commentary on their spiritual laziness.

Part of what the LORD says through His prophet is that a day is coming when judgment will happen. And a day will come when restoration will happen. Both were in the future for Zephaniah and his hearers. Both were particular moments in time, a day.

But Zephaniah speaks of a day, a time in their future, when they would be gathered and returned home, with their wealth in hand. Imagine being in captivity and reading and hearing these words written before you went into captivity. Captivity itself was confirmation that the words spoken by Zephaniah could be trusted.

So these words “at that time” would have given them hope. Their time in captivity was limited. One day they would be released from their chains of bondage and get to return to their home, not their temporary dwelling. The life their parents told them about in the Promised Land would become theirs.

We eagerly wait for the end of these days of ‘captivity’ due to the virus. We eagerly listen to the news and read the web in search for our own “at that time.” We long for a return to the life we had, just as they did.

But ours is an earthly “at that time.” When life goes back to normal, the LORD will still not be given praise among all the peoples of the earth. And is this life really that wonderful?

Isn’t there a longing deep within us for a greater restoration? Don’t we long for our own “at that time” when all suffering has ended, all tears are gone, and joy and fulfillment is the norm?

I know I do! How about you?