December 5, 2015
Zephaniah 3:14–20
Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak. The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it. I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the Lord.
IT’S TIME TO SHED OUR CYNICISM
“Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is having the courage to dance to that song today.” —Peter Kuzmich
At the epicenter of all that exists, a song is playing. Can you hear it? We get something of the song in a short scroll at the very heart of Scripture. It has been called the Song of Songs. And at the core of this song of all songs is a simple chorus of five words. It is the glad song of the Beloved. It is the exultant song of the Bridegroom. It is the expectant song of the future. Five primal Hebrew words: My Beloved Mine. I His.
This is the song of the Holy Spirit, the song of the Father to the Son as the whole of creation was breathed into being by the breath of his Word. This is the song of the Son to the Father as his broken body breathed its last breath of love. This is the song of the Bride back to the Bridegroom as the skies rolled back like a scroll. My beloved mine. I his. It is the soundtrack of the future that plays in the present for all with ears to hear.
A Way in the Wilderness
What is it, LORD, to fear you?
I used to know;
I treasured that gift prominently.
In those days the fear of the LORD kept within me a longing,
a looking for your salvation.
But surely I have neglected your gift,
like the one-use-wonders of Christmases past.
The prophet’s words strike today with the force of a hammer
and the tone of spring rain.
Is there a way in the wilderness
yet for me?
Might I hear the songs again
that ring out among the angels,
calling your children to the home of your presence?
Forgive me.
Heal me to the root of my forgetting.
Grant my heart the grin of our ten-month-old,
who still depends on her father’s delight.
—Ryan Strebeck
NOTE TO READERS:
This will be our last day of regular posts on The Daily Text until December 26th. We will run a Saturday Sixth Day Exercise post each week in the interim. We will keep Not Yet Christmas: It’s Time for Advent the deal going but it you want a book at this point it probably makes the most sense to order a digital version as by the time you received the print version Advent would be half over. Use the code DTADVENT for a 25% discount. And the offer stands, if you can’t afford a book at this time email me and I will be glad to send you a copy on the house.
DO THE SIXTH DAY EXERCISE HERE.
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J.D. Walt serves as Seedbed’s Sower in Chief. jd.walt@seedbed.com.