Zephaniah 3:12 I will also leave in the middle of you an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. The Book of Providence is confessedly a difficult book. Perhaps there are few more mysterious things in it than the deep trials of the family of God. I. THE LORD HAS A PEOPLE. They are the Lord's witnesses. Yet they are but a remnant. A remnant according to the election of grace. II. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS PEOPLE. "Afflicted and poor." There is not an evil in life from which they are exempt. They have afflictions common to men, and afflictions peculiar to themselves. Oftentimes they are heavy afflictions. Many of God's people are literally poor, and certainly they are poor in the sense of being humble. III. WHAT ARE THE BLESSINGS OF THESE CIRCUMSTANCES? Affliction is the means of bringing them to think. And it is the means of drawing out the sympathies of the saints of God. (J. Harington Evans, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD. |
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