Image: "A Place of Refreshing", 2020, Swimming Area before Daniels Dam, Patapsco River, Daniels, Md
Zephaniah 3:5 The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, But the unjust knows no shame.
Zephaniah 3:9–10 “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, That they all may call on the name of the LORD, To serve Him with one accord. 10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, The daughter of My dispersed ones, Shall bring My offering.
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Growing up in the 50's & 60's in the deep South, it was nothing to go swimming in a river. Other than keeping alert for pesky water moccasins and such, it was pretty safe. There was little or no pollution in those days. Most of the rivers near me were relatively shallow though there were stories of an occasional drowning. There was also the spring-fed swimming venue at Pep's Point whose frigid temps would turn you blue even in mid Summer. On special occasions, we might go to Lake Shelby where the rich kids went water skiing and the rest of us just swam in the pleasant water.
All of this is to say that I am partial still to freshwater swimming. I cannot feel refreshed by saltwater beaches... you just feel "sticky" when you come out and the sandy beaches can't compare to shady lawns around a well-tended swimming hole like Lake Shelby or Pep's Point. The image above took me back to those days. It looks like a great place for a family picnic though there are few parking places and it might not available. The cool, clear water and the shallow orange kiddie-friendly area are very inviting. I hope to get back there someday.
Zephaniah 3 invites us to consider another time of refreshing. This hope-filled chapter begins with the solemn warning of coming judgment. God speaks to His people as represented in the city of Jerusalem. They are a disobedient, oppressing, stiff-necked people who have refused to "draw near" to their God. (vs. 2) God then goes on to systematically detail the degree to which they chased after sin. God has shown them, time and time again, that He will bring "justice" to light (vs. 5) but they have persisted in their greed and abuse. Even though, in the face of His anger bringing many fortresses to ruin (vs. 6), they still "rose early and corrupted all their deeds." (vs. 7) There can be no defense against the charges. God's people are guilty and deserving of His wrath.
But then, like a shaft of sunlight piercing the dark clouds, comes God's hope. He calls on those remaining faithful ones, even if they are scattered "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia" (vs. 10), to "wait for Me!" His judgments will be righteous and devastating but His elect remnant will be preserved. He says that He "will gather those who sorrow... to whom (the) reproach (of prevailing evil) is a burden." (vs. 18) In other words, those meek and grief-stricken faithful who suffer under the oppression and genuinely hate the wickedness around them will be called back together. God will reconstitute a "new" people on the earth comprised of the "meek and humble" who "trust in the name of the LORD." (vs. 12) His Holy Spirit will purify their tongues so that they do not practice deceit or lying. (vs. 13) He will even give them a "pure language", a special language of worship, which will separate them from all the foul nations of the earth and distinguish them as God's own unique people.
What a time of "refreshing" that will be... and already is present in the true Church of Jesus Christ.
The New Testament people of God are no longer tied to the particular Hebrew language that unified the visible church in the Old Testament. Now, we have been given the freedom to worship in our own languages, in our distributed centers, but to an amazing extent, we are unified across the world. It is the Person of Jesus Christ and the common inheritance we all have in Him which has torn down the barriers of race, geography, and social customs. We truly have been called forth from the nations and joined in glad assembly which is now wonderful and shall be more wonderful still.
There will come a day when we stand in joyful celebration, with our Lord in our midst, and sing with one voice and one language, of His glorious work. We shall have His mark on our heads and, at last, all memory of sorrow and heartache shall be gone.
It will be even more wonderful than a clean dive into a gently flowing freshwater stream. Today is Sunday... that's another time of refreshing.
Happy Sabbath!
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