The Book of Zephaniah is all about judgement and deliverance, but chapter three, the context of our verse for today, concentrates on the former, revealing precious little hope of deliverance for Jerusalem. ‘Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled’ (3:1) because: ‘She obeys no one, she accepts no correction. She does not trust […]
URC Daily Devotions 12th December
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,and you will not listen?Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.The […]
URC Daily Devotion 11th December
Living in central London often feels like a strangely absurd and irrational experience. I would argue that London is the greatest city in the history of the world. On its best days, London foreshadows many of the realities of the New Jerusalem — a city where the nations live side-by-side in unity and reflect the […]
URC Daily Devotions 10th December The Second Sunday of Advent
The LORD’s my saviour and my light—who will make me dismayed?The LORD’s the stronghold of my life—why should I be afraid? When evildoers threaten meto take my life away,My adversaries and my foeswill stumble in that day. Although an army hems me in,my heart will feel no dread;Though war against me should arise,I will lift […]
URC Daily Devotion 9th December
“With what shall I come before the Lord,and bow myself before God on high?Shall I come before the Lord with burnt offeringswith calves a year old?Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,.with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,the fruit of my body for the sin […]
URC Daily Devotions 8th December
When God said to him, “What right do you have to be angry about the plant?” Jonah replied, “I have every right to be angry—angry enough to die!” The Lord said to him, “This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn’t do anything for it and you didn’t make it […]
URC Daily Devotion 7th December
For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, all the nations around you shall drink; they shall drink and gulp down, and shall be […]
URC Daily Devotion 6th December
The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors And he said:The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem;the pastures […]
URC Daily Devotions 5th December
Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. I will show portents in the heavens and […]
URC Daily Devotion 4th December
Even a cursory reading of Hosea – he of the wandering wife and the children with colourful names – may lead you to side with Private Fraser in proclaiming ‘we’re doomed’. Hosea is very zealous for the Lord and he doesn’t hold back in his descriptions of his times. Iniquity, idolatry, immorality, all arising from […]