Zephaniah 3:12-13

"I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid."
Zephaniah 3:12-13


This struck me today because of the similarity to the scripture that I wrote about earlier this week (3 Nephi 21:19). Previous to this, God talks about how he will take away people who rejoice in pride, so it seems like part of getting to this point is some massive humility. I think that we don’t usually learn humility unless forced by circumstance… being afflicted and poor perhaps. And maybe that is what helps them to that very cool and ideal point where no one lies and no one feels like they have to deceive, because they aren’t afraid anymore. I wonder what in our current society encourages us to lie, and deceive, and to do iniquity. Is it mainly fear? And if so, fear of what? Authority, relationships falling apart, social status, losing power? Maybe humility can help in those circumstances as well. I know it doesn’t always seem so, that humility in the face of a power struggle at work could help… or humility when faced with a cruel authority figure. Things like that feel sometimes like we should fight back and stand up for ourselves. And sometimes we should. But, often, humility is the better choice. Being able to let other people win, and to let the less important struggles go, even when we’re right… these are things that we all have to relearn frequently. :) And, maybe if we work on it now, today… we’ll be less afraid, less tempted to deceive, and better able to make the right decisions consistently.