The other day I checked out a new coffee shop.  I was running errands on the other side of town, so rather than heading back to the church to work, I decided to set up somewhere new.  I’m always up for coffee, and seeing that I hadn’t tried this particular coffee shop yet, it didn’t take much to convince me to check it out. 

The coffee was great.

The baristas were kind.

The atmosphere was inviting.

There was plenty of seating inside and out.

There was just one small problem; I absolutely did not “fit in” there. 

The coffee shop was filled with young adults in their early 20s.  I was probably 15 years older than the oldest person there!  On top of my age being considerably higher, my style stood out – badly.  Everything from my hair, my clothes, and my shoes stuck out like a sore thumb. 

I was terribly out of my element, but here’s the weirdest thing: I loved every moment of it.

In fact, this feeling of being out of place gave me an assurance that I was working in just the right place.  I felt totally out of place and totally at peace all at the same time. 

Weird, right? 

Or may not.  Maybe there’s something to feeling out of place and at peace at the same time. 

Zephaniah 3:5 says, “But the Lord is still there in the city, and he does no wrong.”

I realize that is a strange thing to follow, but stay with me a moment.  Zephaniah 3:1-4 talks about how broken, messed up, defiant, stubborn, and proud the people of Jerusalem have become.  They refuse “correction,” will not “draw near to God,” and the folks in power leverage it “like roaring lions hunting for their victims.”

For four straight verses, the condition of the city of Jerusalem went from bad to worse and suddenly, when it seems all hope is lost, in the midst of this ever-darkening description of the city’s depravity, we’re told that, “The Lord is still there in the city.”

I love that verse.

“The Lord is still there in the city.”

Sometimes I need to be reminded of that.

The Lord is still there….

In your family

In your struggle

In your brokenness 

In your crisis 

In your dilemma 

In your fear

In your blessing

In your hope 

In your questioning

In your, “This doesn’t make sense!”

The Lord is still there – wherever ‘there’ is.

That’s why I had peace in a place I didn’t fit in – because the Lord is still there.  If the Lord is still there, there is yet hope to be found.  Hope doesn’t rest on our ability to understand or make sense of our circumstances – hope is simply our ability to acknowledge all that is and still say, “The Lord is still here.”

Zephaniah doesn’t mince words as to how bad things are, but as harsh as his assessment of their presence circumstances is, his hope for the future far exceeds his despair in the present. 

“The Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears.  He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”  ~ Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)

When you know God is still there living among you, you can be real about today and still have hope for tomorrow. 

He will take delight in you

He will calm all your fears

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs

It doesn’t have to make sense, to be true and it doesn’t have to feel real, to be real.

As broken, messed up, and far from God as Zephaniah’s Jerusalem was, “The Lord was still there in the city” and he is still here with you – even when it doesn’t make sense.