Zephaniah 1:12 “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.”
Great Expectations
One night after a church service, I rode on patrol with a police officer from the church who was a friend of mine. While working the night shift, we responded to a domestic call from a father whose son had stormed out of the house in great anger. When we arrived, the teenage son cursed at my friend (the police officer) and angrily walked off. He had nowhere to go, but he just stormed off aimlessly down the city street at midnight.
I vividly remember the father turning to my friend and saying, “He’s just given up on life.” At seventeen years of age? Is there nothing to hope for or expect? It sounds unbelievable, but for this young man, life seemed hopeless at only seventeen! If you are taught in school that there is no God, that we are just some cosmic accident, and that man is his own god, then life can seem hopeless and without purpose to even a seventeen-year-old.
Zephaniah was a prophet who spoke to people who had very low expectations of God. They did not expect much from God, so they did not turn to Him with their whole heart. The small book of Zephaniah at the end of the Old Testament reveals God to be actively searching and judging. God is a God of action. However, the men in Jerusalem were sitting back and not expecting God to do anything.
The truth is that God actively disappoints the expectations of complacent people. What do complacent people expect? Nothing. What do they want? Nothing. Complacent people are satisfied. Those who know God should have expectations that are worthy of Him. Any dealing of God in your life is better than no dealing!
What are your expectations of God? Do your expectations simply mirror your own personal history and abilities, or do they mirror the scope, magnificence, power, and holy nature of a God that refuses to be limited? How great are your expectations of God?