Text: Zephaniah 1:12-14
Memory verse:
“And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, ‘The Lord will not do good, Nor will He do evil.’“
‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Recently, I was so busy that I forgot my freshly made coconut milk in the car for several hours. Afterward, I found out that it had become so thick and with a layer of crust on the surface. Likewise, wine drinkers often say that when wine is allowed to ferment for a long time, it forms a hard crust, and the liquid becomes syrupy, bitter, and unpalatable. The hard crust on both the milk and wine are formed because they had not been disturbed over a period of time. This is the imagery that God paints here.
According to our memory text, these people are “settled in complacency and they say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.’“ The NIV says, “…who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs”. Other translations use phrases like, “…who are stagnant in spirit; who settle down comfortably; who sit there unworried; who are satisfied with their hardened lifestyle; who are self-satisfied and confident”
All these phrases describe the conditions of complacent believers. They become unmoved, unconcerned, unworried, and indifferent about the circumstances surrounding them. They have stayed so long in sin that they also think that God is unbothered about how they live their lives. Just like you hear people say today, “God isn’t as difficult as that”. These people say in their hearts that ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.’ That is, God doesn’t care what people do or how they live their lives. So, they settled in their carelessness, and their little sins keep growing unchecked. Instead of removing the crust or settlement of sin, they become hardened and indifferent to God. They regard the delay in judgment as complacency or weakness of God (2 Pet 3:9). What a deception!
This is what the scripture calls the deceitfulness of sin. ”but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.“
(‭‭Heb‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬). Sin is blinding and binding. God warns, ”and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.“ ‭‭(Deut‬ ‭29‬:‭19‬).
Friends, may you not settle in complacency nor take His patience as weakness.

Prayer points
1. Father, open the eyes and deliver all Your children who are under the blinding and binding deception of sins, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, daily quicken me with Your word so the crust of sin won’t be formed in my life, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. As I spend time daily with God and meditate on His word, God shakes me up to prevent the settlement of sin in my life.
2. God is patient, not because He is weak or complacent, but because He is not willing that any should perish.

Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng