Devotions this week based on The Prophets Week 12 – Malachi (WATCH HERE)
I enjoy the game of basketball and over the last few years have gotten back into officiating the game. I’ve learned a lot and realize that your perspective may not always be the same as the players, coaches, or fans…but you are the one charged with making a call when a violation or foul has occurred. Most are obvious and there is little complaint. However, sometimes a person fouls without even realizing it (or appears they don’t!). When you call the foul they can be heard to ask, “Who me? How?” with a puzzled look on their face.
Sometimes we don’t realize when we’ve created a violation…but someone does.
The oracle that God gives to Malachi is the spiritual official of the LORD calling out the violations of the people of God. Their response seven times is, “How?” What they were doing was deviating from the path of the LORD, but being done with a level of willful ignorance.
God sends Malachi to them and to us to call it out…not because he is vengeful, but because he loves us enough to not let us continue down that path.
The first call is this:
Malachi 1:2 — “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
But you ask, “How have you loved us?”
The shock isn’t the Lord’s statement, but the people’s response: “How have You loved us?”
How could someone not recognize the love of the Lord? The Lord responds. “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the LORD says. “Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.” (Malachi 1:2-3)
The evidence of the Lord’s love was his faithfulness not just to Jacob, but all of his descendents. The people hearing Malachi for the first time were part of that. The Lord had preserved them, watched over them, been faithful to his covenant promises, and more.
But the people failed to see it.
Life was still hard. Enemies still threatened. Prosperity was not rampant.
The people seem to have set their “qualifiers” on what God’s love looked like. And when their qualifiers were not seen, they had concluded, “God doesn’t love us.”
Have you ever done the same? We may not say this out loud, but we feel it in our complaints:
If God loved me, why is life hard?
If God cared, why doesn’t He fix things?
God’s answer reminds us that His love is not the outcome of human merit or some bargaining power, but the result of his grace. He loved Jacob, not because Jacob was good but because He is gracious. He loves us, not because we are good, but because of his grace.
God’s love is real not based on our external circumstances and whether we find them pleasant or not, but on the objective life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Throughout Scripture, God’s love is seen most deeply not in comfort, but in rescue.
In Christ, that love is fully revealed:
“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5
The cross is God’s irrefutable declaration:
“I have loved you.”
The opening of Malachi calls us to repent of how quickly we forget and how easily we question God’s heart. God’s statement of his love for us sets the tone for the other calls he makes later in the book. He does all things, even calling out sin, because he loves us.
The God who speaks in Malachi speaks the same today:
“I have loved you” … look to Christ.
Apply: Where has God shown His love to you? What helps you remember instead of doubt?
Prayer: Lord, forgive my forgetfulness. When my heart questions Your love, fix my eyes on Jesus. Restore a thankful spirit in me through the cross and empty tomb. Amen.