Devotions this week based on The Prophets Week 12 – Malachi (WATCH HERE)
Happy Thanksgiving to all our devotion readers! I pray that today is a day that is both one that is filled with many reasons to give thanks as well as one that leads you to respond with a spirit of gratitude, generosity and giving.
Malachi gently turns our eyes towards this latter thought: what we return. In Malachi’s day, the Lord spoke strong words to His people not to shame them, but to restore their trust. The people had returned from exile, rebuilt their city, and resumed worship but their hearts had grown cautious. They held back from generosity not because they were greedy but because they were afraid. Life had been hard. Resources felt limited. The future felt uncertain.
And then the Lord said something startling: “Test me in this.”
It is one of the few places in Scripture where God invites His people to put Him to the test. Not in arrogance. Not in doubt. But in trust.
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and offerings… Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse… Test me in this… and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” Malachi 3:8-10.
This is about faith. God was exposing a heart problem before addressing a money problem. When trust in God weakens, thankfulness disappears and as a result generosity disappears. When fear grows, giving shrinks. When people stop believing that God is good and faithful, they cling tightly to whatever they have.
And does that not still describe us?
We thank God for food on the table but worry we might not have enough tomorrow.
We thank God for health but live anxious about what might change.
We thank God for provision but hold our hands closed when He asks us to give.
Thanksgiving becomes easier when life is full. Trust becomes harder when life feels thin.
Yet God does not scold His people and walk away. He invites them closer. As we looked at yesterday, he says, “Return to me, and I will return to you.” And then He adds this astonishing promise: trust Me and watch what I do.
God does not promise wealth. He promises sufficiency. He does not promise ease. He promises blessing. He does not promise accumulation. He promises care.
Listen again to His words of grace:
“I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit… Then all the nations will call you blessed” Malachi 3:11–12.
God wants His people to live not with clenched fists but with open hands. Not driven by fear but shaped by faith. Not hoarding blessings but reflecting them.
Thanksgiving, then, is not simply listing what we have. It is trusting the One who provides.
The One who provides you your Savior, is the one who provides for your life. The One who provides you grace is the one who provides for daily sustenance.
Thanksgiving flows most richly from remembering the cross. There we see the generosity of God in full measure. There we see the love that does not withhold. There we learn that we can trust His heart even when we do not understand His ways.
So as you give thanks today, let it be more than a moment. Let it be a spirit. Let it be a lifestyle. Let it be an offering. Let your life of thanksgiving be a life that is grounded in trust…trust in the Lord!
Prayer: Gracious Father, You are faithful in all things. You have never failed us and You never will. Forgive us for the times we cling to what we have instead of trusting You for what we need. Teach our hearts to give not out of fear but out of faith. Teach us to thank You not only for what we see but for what You promise. We place our lives, our homes, our futures in Your hands again today. And we trust You. Amen.