The forest fires raging in California and Western Canada have caused an incredible amount of devastation. Homes have been destroyed, communities erased, and lives lost. Many wonder if things will ever return to normal. After returning from the exile, life in Judah was not the same as it used to be. The Jewish people returned to a land devastated by war. No longer an independent nation with their own king, they had become a province in the mighty Persian Empire.

Into such discouraging circumstances God sent the prophet Zephaniah with a message of hope. God had not abandoned His people (v. 17). While their situation might have given them the impression that they were alone, the reality was that God was with them as He always had been. God was a mighty warrior, intent on saving them (v. 17). This portrait of God was designed to encourage them to have hope for the future.

After decades in exile, followed by decades of malaise, the Jewish people needed hope that God’s wrath could be assuaged, and that they would see the other side of Him again. He declares in Zephaniah that the time for rebuke is over. Instead, He will respond to them with delight and singing (v. 17). More than that, He will undo the effects of their sin. Oppressors who had been sent to afflict them will be removed (v. 19). The lame and exiled who find themselves helpless will be rescued and brought home to a hero’s welcome!

God will return things better than they were before. After enduring the punishment for their covenant violations, Israel could rest in the knowledge that their God had never abandoned them, and that He was a God who restores.

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Revenge is a dish best served cold, or so we are told. But as people committed to the Bible, we are commanded not to take revenge. We are told to love our enemy, not plot his downfall. Yet if you have ever suffered an injustice, you know the feelings that can bubble up in your heart. If I don’t take care of this, who will? If I don’t take care of this, they might get away with it. Is there anyone you can turn to who will take care of things for you?

In biblical times, Assyria was a world power that excelled at cruelty. From one of their principal cities, Nineveh, this empire ran roughshod over the ancient Near East. In his providence, God used this nation to chastise His people. But the Assyrians took delight in their cruelty and took credit for their own success (Isa. 10:10–11), so God decided to defend His people. The judgments described here are severe: Their allies would abandon them, they would be childless, their precious idols and temples would be destroyed (Nah. 1:14).

This would have been a cause for rejoicing among Israelites. God promised to defend them when their enemies attacked. He had done so in the past, but with the arrival of Nineveh they might have wondered if He would do so again. The prophet declares that He would (v. 12). This was a joyous word from the Lord. Nahum calls it “good news” (v. 15). Their enemy would be totally and triumphantly defeated.

Rejoicing at the downfall of an invader is understandable, but how can it be squared with exhortations to avoid revenge? Nahum provides the answer. Because God is fully capable of judging with perfect righteous judgment, His people can leave that difficult work to Him.

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For a number of years, my father, a pastor in Brooklyn, New York, volunteered with a second chance program. Young men and women who had early encounters with the legal system were given a chance to have their records expunged in exchange for community service. They were given a second chance for a purpose.

God gave both Jonah and the people of Nineveh second chances as well. Most of us are familiar with Jonah’s story. After God told the prophet to go to the city of Nineveh, Jonah fled in the opposite direction. The Lord disciplined the prophet with unusual means, and Jonah spent a few nights in a watery jail cell before he was released on parole (read Jonah 1–2).

In chapter 3, we see God return to Jonah a second time with a mission (3:1). God once again told Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh, calling them to repent. Again, Jonah was resistant. Why did he resist? Was it fear? Was it bitterness? As an Israelite who had suffered at the hands of Nineveh, he preferred to avoid this calling.

Thankfully, God didn’t leave the outcome in Jonah’s hands. It was God’s message and His heart on display, as He called a second time for Jonah to deliver this message! We learn that the “Ninevites believed God” (v. 5). Their turnaround was so complete that “a fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” (v. 5). God had saved Jonah for a reason, and this time the prophet obeyed. “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (v. 10).

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I lived in eastern Iowa for a decade. Every Wednesday a tornado warning siren would blare over the air. My family and I quickly learned that this was only a test, and we grew to ignore them. But occasionally the siren would blare at a different time, and we would scramble to the basement in haste. The siren was calling us to take immediate action so we would live!

The prophets of Israel are often characterized as full of judgment and destruction. But we can also look at them as God’s warning sirens. During the days of Amos, Israel was not living according to the covenant, so God sent the prophet with a warning. “Seek me and live; do not seek Bethel” (v. 4). By inviting the people to seek Him, God was sounding the alarm.

This alarm also warned them where not to go. Bethel was an infamous city in Israel. Generations before, a king named Jeroboam had built a temple to a false god there (1 Kings 12:29). As a result, he led the nation into idolatrous worship and away from the Lord. Years later, Bethel continued to be a place where people went to sacrifice and pray to a pagan deity. Like a family fleeing from a tornado to the second story of their home, Israel was turning to false gods for help. They needed to be told where to go, but they also needed to be told where not to go! The other cities, Gilgal and Beersheba, also had associations with wickedness.

Far more than just judgment and destruction, the prophet Amos was calling Israel to change their ways while there was still time. Eventually God would lose patience, but until that moment there was a chance to escape punishment. All they needed to do was seek Him, and they would live.

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It is possible to settle a lawsuit without admitting guilt. Sometimes the cost of the legal proceedings is so high that an accused person may just settle the case with a fine, while never actually admitting they are guilty. While our legal system allows this procedure, it would be hard to say the person who paid the fine actually repented.

A survey of Israel’s history could lead one to believe that the nation had been paying fines, but never really admitting they did anything wrong. They seemed to commit the same sins over and over again. Idolatry, abusing the poor, and taking advantage of foreigners all appeared on their rap sheet since the book of Exodus. Even though God had called them to repent more times than we can count, they had not done so with their whole hearts.

The prophet Joel describes what true repentance looks like. He uses an ancient image for expressing distress: tearing a garment a person is wearing. Generally tearing a garment will ruin it, so this act was reserved for expressing the deepest of distress. But tearing a garment could also be done for show. Here the prophet invites his audience to an even greater level of commitment: rending or tearing their hearts (v. 13).

This expression signifies a genuine decision to turn from violating God’s covenant. It is an act that, while it cannot be seen externally, is transformative spiritually. Joel calls his readers to this because, unlike a torn garment, a torn heart will be accepted by God. Joel knew God’s character. Since the days of Mt. Sinai God had consistently reminded Israel that He was unlike any god they had ever encountered (Ex. 34:6). Joel invokes that self-declaration of God here, using it to entice the Israelites to repent.

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If you’ve ever received a strong rebuke, you had multiple ways to respond. You could immediately fight back, justify yourself, and even explain why the correction was unnecessary. Or you could accept the critique as being good for your development.

In the Old Testament, Israel received many rebukes from the Lord. There were times when they justified themselves. But in Hosea, God’s people listened, accepted the discipline, and committed themselves to Him again. The prophet Hosea begins with a call to “return to the Lord” (6:1). Like a car making a U-turn, the writer encourages his listeners to make a 180-degree change to their sinful ways. He acknowledges that the Lord has “torn us to pieces” (v. 1). This is a graphic description of the strong discipline they have endured. Because they wandered so far from Him, God brought the judgments He described in the Law upon them (Deut. 27–28).

Notice that their ability to return to the Lord is based upon His character. The prophet does not say: You’ve now become good enough to come back to Him! Instead, Hosea roots his call in the fact that God loves His people and has promised to restore them. “He will heal us…he will bind up our wounds” (v. 1). Why would God do this for wicked people? So that they would be restored to live righteous lives in His presence for their own good (v. 2).

With this commitment from God to forgiveness and restoration, the prophet challenges his readers to press on to return to and acknowledge the Lord (v. 3). God has made a promise and as sure as the sun rises, He will fulfill it!

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Would you want to know the future if you could? Which details would you like to know? Some would like to know the results of the next election, or the price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a certain day. But the future is a mystery, inaccessible to all but the God who controls all things. Of course, that doesn’t stop us from wondering, which leads to uncertainty.

God uses His knowledge of the future to make an important point: He can be trusted. God did this during the time of Daniel by giving the king of Babylon a dream he couldn’t understand. Then God gave Daniel the meaning of the dream. The people of Israel had experienced the trauma of military defeat. The nation wondered, does God have a plan for us? Does He have a plan at all? Their reaction reveals typical human uncertainty. So, God took pains to show that He had things under control; He knows the future (Isa. 46:10).

In a series of visions, God revealed the rise and fall of empires in the region. These were significant details which could not be predicted with such specificity by mortals. In doing so He made it clear that He had His hand on world events. The dream was trustworthy and so was the God who revealed it (2:25). In addition, God showed the powerful Babylonian king and the humble prophet how much they didn’t know!

This prophetic dream covered more than just ancient times. It extended to the end of times as well, when God establishes a kingdom that will endure forever. This kingdom, promised to the nation during the days of King David (2 Samuel 7), represents a great victory over Israel’s enemies and the enduring hope of all who trust in God today.

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How do you react to difficult feedback? Do you accept the critique as being for your own good? Or do you write it off, suspecting the messenger of unfair motives? By the time we get to Ezekiel, a lot of hard words have been spoken against Israel. It’s easy to wonder if God had their best interest in mind. The attentive ear will listen to the words of the prophet Ezekiel and hear the note of redemption.

During Ezekiel’s day, the political invasions God promised were starting to become reality. Even so, Israel wasn’t taking the hint. They were asking all the wrong questions. “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live (v. 10)? Facing strong punishment, they wondered how they would ever recover. Like a person facing bankruptcy due to their poor decisions, or a confiscated driver’s license they wondered, How or when will life go back to normal?

Thankfully the Lord presented the answer right away: Turn! This one word sums up the Lord’s purpose in judgment. His goal was to compel His people to turn from their godless behavior and turn to Him, the source of all joy. Today, we might use the word repent to describe a change of mind that leads to a change of action.

God was not judging Israel because He enjoyed it (v. 11). Rather, He was punishing them because He wanted them to live. To really live meant loving Him above all other things (Deut. 6:4). In the New Testament, God makes the same plea. Jesus says, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent” (Rev. 3:19).

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