Albert Barnes Commentary Zephaniah 3:2

"She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in Jehovah; she drew not near to her God." — Zephaniah 3:2 (ASV)

She did not obey the Voice - of God, by the law or the prophets, teaching her His ways; and when, disobeying, He chastened her, “she did not receive correction,” and when He increased His chastisements, she, in the declining age of the state and deepening evil, did not turn to Him, as in the time of the judges, nor cease to do evil.

In the Lord she did not trust - but in Assyria or Egypt or her idols.

Our practical relation to God is summed up in the four words, “Mis-trust self; trust God.” Man reverses this, and when “self-trust” has of course failed him, then he “mistrusts God.”

“Such people rarely ask of God what they hope they may obtain from man. They strain every nerve of their soul to obtain what they want; they canvass, flatter, fawn, bribe, court favor; and turn to God when all human help fails. They would be indebted not to God, but to their own diligence. For the more they receive from God, the less, they see, they can exalt their own diligence, the more they are bound to thank God and obey Him more strictly.”

To her God she did not draw near - even in trouble, when all draw near to Him who are not wholly alien from Him. She did not draw near by repentance, by faith, hope, or love, or by works fitting for repentance, but in heart remained far from Him.

And yet He was “her” own “God,” as He had shown Himself in times past, who does not change while we change; is faithful to us while we fail Him; is still our God while we forget Him; “waits, to have mercy upon us;” shines on us while we interpose our earth-born clouds between us and Him.

Dionysius writes: “Not in body nor in place, but spiritually and inwardly do we approach the uncircumscribed God,” acknowledging Him as our Father, to whom we daily say Our Father.