Consider

I have gleaned profit from the prophets.  (Good, huh?)  I know I have only skimmed the surface, yet what I have found in these very books I’ve slighted for years, is amazing.  I have erred in my thinking they were the most boring books in the Bible.  I knew there were wonderful verses and passages in them but what I’ve learned from each of these books, both major and minor, as a whole, has shed new light for me into the personality of God.

Zephaniah, chapter three, alone speaks loudly of the rebellion of man and the patience and kindness of God toward man.  Consider parts of the last four verses:  “God is in your midst”, “exults over you with joy”, “rejoices over you with shouts of joy”.  And then it goes into some glorious, “I wills”:  “I will gather those who grieve”, “I am going to deal with all your oppressors”, “I will save the lame”, “I will gather the outcast”, “I will turn their shame into praise”, “I will bring you in”, “I will give you renown and praise”, “I will restore your fortunes”.  And this is just a portion of a three-chapter book.

And I’ve just begun Haggai.  The key word in this book is “consider”.  What patience and mercy God shows His flower of creation: man!  He want us to think, watch out, beware, behold – consider!  He says, “Consider your ways”, “take courage”, “do consider”.  Why?  “I am with you.” “My Spirit is abiding in your midst.”  “Do not fear”.  “I will give you peace.” “I will bless you.”

If this is just skimming off the surface of these two short minor prophets, what a storehouse of hope and health lie in the Word as a whole.  God has truly given us “everything we need for life and godliness.”  (2 Peter 1:3)

 Listen people, this is our God, our Father.  Revel in that!  Rejoice!