Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21.

I loved these two excerpts in two of my devotionals. From You Are The Beloved by Henri Nouwen: “The Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised to His followers, is the great gift of God. Without the Spirit of Jesus we can do nothing, but in and through His Spirit we can live free, joyful, and courageous lives. We cannot pray, but the Spirit of Christ can pray in us. We cannot create peace and joy, but the Spirit of Christ can fill us with a peace and joy that is not of this world. We cannot break through the many barriers that divide races, sexes, and nations, but the Spirit of Christ unites all people in the all-embracing love of God. The Spirit of Christ burns away our many fears and anxieties and sets us free to move wherever we are sent. That is the great liberation of Pentecost.” And from My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers: “”Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.“ Luke 24:49. The disciples had to tarry, staying in Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, not only for their own preparation but because they had to wait until the Lord was actually glorified. And as soon as He was glorified, what happened? “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). The statement in John 7:39 – “for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” – does not pertain to us. The Holy Spirit has been given; the Lord is glorified – our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness. The Holy Spirit’s influence and power were at work before Pentecost, but He was not here. Once our Lord was glorified in His ascension, the Holy Spirit came into the world, and He has been here ever since. We have to receive the revealed truth that He is here. The attitude of receiving and welcoming the Holy Spirit into our lives is to be the continual attitude of a believer. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive reviving life from our ascended Lord. It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ – it is the evidence of the ascended Christ. The baptism of the Holy Spirit does not make you think of time or eternity – it is one amazing glorious now. “This is eternal life, that they may know You” (John 17:3). Begin to know Him now, and never finish.”

Reading our chapter, Zephaniah 2, it’s easy to wonder why is so much repeated in Scripture. Because Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, spoke truth through different prophets warning the people to turn away from turning their backs on Him, which resulted in all the calamities they, and the nations, experienced personally and nationally. And that turning to Him brings understanding anew, that is like the freshest breeze after a violent storm that sweeps away the dusty, old cobwebs of all the false teaching and beliefs we and the nations cling to. Gather together, gather yourselves together, you shameful nation, before the decree takes effect and that day passes like windblown chaff, before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what He commands. Seek righteousness and humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger. v. 1-3. God never promised to keep us from the tribulations of this world. He promised we would experience them because this world is broken. But He does promise He will be with us always even through the tribulations we cannot conceive of experiencing now. Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. Woe to you who live by the sea, you Kerethite people; the word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines…”I have heard the insults of Moab and the taunts of the Ammonites, who insulted My people and made threats against their land. Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will become like Sodom, the Ammonites like Gomorrah – a place of weeds and salt pits, a wasteland forever”…This is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the Lord Almighty. The Lord will be awesome to them when He destroys all the gods of the earth. Distant nations will bow down to Him, all of them in their own lands…He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert. Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures of every kind. The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns. Their hooting will echo through the windows, rubble will fill the doorways, the beams of cedar will be exposed. This is the city of revelry that lived in safety. She said to herself, “I am the one! And there is none besides me.” What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists. v. 4-5, 8-9, 10-11, 13-15. In the notes below for understanding…”2:13-15 To predict the destruction of Nineveh ten years before it happened would be equivalent to predicting the destruction of London, Tokyo, Paris, or New York. Nineveh was the ancient Near Eastern center for culture, technology, and beauty. It had great libraries, buildings, and a vast irrigation system that created lush gardens in the city. The city wall was 60 miles long, 100 feet high, and over 30 feet wide and was fortified with 1,500 towers. Yet the entire city was destroyed so completely that its very existence was questioned until it was discovered, with great difficulty, by 19th-century archaeologists. Nineveh had indeed become as desolate and dry as the desert.” And “as desolate and dry as the desert” describes our hearts clinging to what we think is good. And when Creator God intervenes, we can look and truly see; we can hear and truly listen…to the truth of God’s love for all of His creation, including all of us. The Holy Spirit was given so we could listen and see all that God has for us and it is so Good!