For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD.
Zephaniah, Zephaniah, Zephaniah. Just when I’d thought I’d warmed up to the prophets, or at least to Habakkuk, along comes Zephaniah with another dire, Eeyore-like prophecy. In this short book, there are several prophesies against Israel and all of its enemies. But then, God announces that God will save Israel, turn away their enemies, be in their midst, and renew them with God’s love. And leave a group of people who are lowly and humble. I’m not sure if this is the precursor to the “the poor will always be with you”.
Today is Thanksgiving, a day for gratitude. I can look around my new home and be extremely grateful that it’s coming together as well as it is. I can look at my sick loved one, and be grateful that they’ve had a period of relative stability. I can look at my son, and be grateful he was able to join us from his busy school/army/study-for-the-bar/ season. I can look at my husband and be grateful he’s stuck with me. I can look at friends, with the same gratitude. I have a lot to be grateful for.
Gratitude is better, however with a healthy dose of humility. I did nothing to get these things for which I’m grateful; it isn’t up to me, and I can’t effect the outcomes of most of these things. My gratitude is greatest because I know I couldn’t do this on my own. God is the root of all my blessings. Left on my own, I’d have nothing, and I’d be nothing. Left on my own, I’d be the humble and lowly that Zephaniah describes.
True, I can look in my neighborhood, and see people who are lowlier and more worse off than me. I can look out and see others who it would be easy to assume are the ‘real’ lowly, humble and poor. But that then leaves me in a position of feeling separate or better than those others. Whether it’s the lady in the wheel chair we met last night who asked if we wanted to buy some food stamps from her, or young adult addicts I’ve seen, they are no more lowly than I am.
I am the humble and lowly that Zephaniah is describing. I need to realize that without God, I’d have nothing to be grateful for. And If I don’t take the time to be grateful, to count my blessings, it’s easy to forget where they come from.
This morning, I’m thinking about the lowly and humble, about all of us, and about a God who is always present, and always ready to bestow amazing blessings on me, if I only take the opportunity to see them.
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