God is still there!

Zephaniah 3:1-5 NLT

What sorrow awaits rebellious, polluted Jerusalem, the city of violence and crime! [2] No one can tell it anything; it refuses all correction. It does not trust in the LORD or draw near to its God. [3] Its leaders are like roaring lions hunting for their victims. Its judges are like ravenous wolves at evening time, who by dawn have left no trace of their prey. [4] Its prophets are arrogant liars seeking their own gain. Its priests defile the Temple by disobeying God's instructions. [5] But the LORD is still there in the city, and He does no wrong. Day by day He hands down justice, and He does not fail. But the wicked know no shame.

As I read this I thought of my nation - I could easily substitute Jerusalem with London, Birmingham, Manchester etc etc and the words would fit exactly.

Our cities are full of violence and corruption seeps out of our leaders, our courts, our state church twists and ignores biblical truths. It's depressing and dark.

Abuse and dishonesty are rife in the highest places as the grooming gangs scandal has revealed.

"But", there in verse 5 it states "The Lord is still there" - what divine hope is pumped into that verse.

Try as we might to ignore and dismiss the Living God, He is still omnipotent, omniscient - all seeing, all knowing, all powerful. "He's still there!"

Psalm 139:11-12 NLT

I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night- [12] but even in darkness I cannot hide from You. To You the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are the same to You.

There is hope because "God is still there"! He hasn't changed and His Will is going to be done and His Kingdom will come.

We still have the opportunity to turn to Him and be healed and saved.

Isaiah 66:1-2 AMPC

Thus says the Lord: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. What kind of house would you build for Me? And what kind can be My resting-place? [2] For all these things My hand has made, and so all these things have come into being [by and for Me], says the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look and have regard: he who is humble and of a broken or wounded spirit, and who trembles at My Word and reveres My commands.

Oh to be like that!

Discouraged soul, remember "God is still there" and pray, pray, pray!