“‘The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy…. Behold, I am going to deal at that time with all your oppressors, I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. At that time I will bring you in, even at the time when I gather you together; Indeed, I will give you renown and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,’ Says the LORD” (Zeph 3:17, 19-20).
Proverbs speaks of the annoyance caused by excessively optimistic people who loudly bless their neighbors at the crack of dawn (Prov 27:14). Even more annoying, and even insulting, are the Pollyannas of this world who belittle deep trauma and terrible tragedy with the insincere words, “yiheh beseder,” an expression in Hebrew that literally means, “it will be ok.” Too often, this phrase is tossed out meaninglessly and sounds far more like “hakuna matata,” Timon and Pumbaa’s so-called problem-free philosophy (from The Lion King).
It is a certainty as sure and eternal as God Himself, firm, faithful, and deeply rooted in the final two words of Zephaniah’s book: “Y-H-W-H said!”
Yet although Israel’s prophets almost always conclude their books with a vision of a glorious future, this is not because they refuse to face the all-too-frequent realities of sin, rebellion, injustice, violence, poverty, exile, war, and death. Rather than burying their heads in the sand, the prophets immersed themselves in divine and unalterable promises. A clear example is Zephaniah, who borrows his God-singing-over-his-redeemed-people conclusion from Deuteronomy 30, where God promises Moses the making of a new covenant.
The prophetic optimism concerning Israel’s future, as well as our own confidence that “all things work together for good,” is not a flight from reality. It is a certainty as sure and eternal as God Himself, firm, faithful, and deeply rooted in the final two words of Zephaniah’s book: “Y-H-W-H said!”
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt 5:18).
