Malchi: How Shall We Return?
Devotions this week based on The Prophets Week 12 – Malachi (WATCH HERE)
Malachi 3:6–7 “Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’”
It’s hard to make a U-turn when you don’t realize you need to make one.
On occasion the voice on my maps says, “Make a U-turn” and I ignore it. I think I might know a better way, or just don’t believe making a U-turn is the best for my travel plans.
How much more a spiritual U-turn when you don’t realize you need to make a U-turn.
Malachi speaks the Word of the Lord to the people of Judah, “Return to me,…”
When these words come from the all-knowing Lord who knows the thoughts of our mind and attitude of our hearts, it comes from a credible source.
We are headed the wrong direction.
The heart condition of God’s people was drifting once again from the Lord. They were hearts that thought they were doing the right thing…for them. They didn’t realize the priority of their hearts had drifted from the Lord to the things of this world.
This can happen in our life.
Work gets busy and the Lord gets little time. Life produces challenges and the Lord is not seen as part of the solution…perhaps even the problem. The attitude that life with the Lord can be done in the future is overshadowed by a life absent from the Lord in the present.
So the words of the Lord through Malachi are needed today as well: “Return to me.”
Stop. Evaluate the direction you are headed and return with all your heart, soul and mind to the Lord.
“…and I will return to you.”
It is a natural thing for the Lord to draw near to those who draw near to him. Like magnets that are aligned come together, so is the Lord and a heart that is aligned to him.
But you ask, “How are we to return?”
Unfortunately the people’s response isn’t, “Ok, Lord. You are right. We are getting rid of the things that cause our heart to drift and walking fully with you.”
The question “How are we to return?” seems like a stall tactic from a group of people who are not really asking “HOW” but perhaps implied is “HOW COME.”
Admitting their hearts had drifted was hampered by the pride that doesn’t want to recognize it would mean giving up love of wealth, selfish ambitions, and personal priorities.
To be sure, this is one of the greatest promises in the prophet: God does not change — which means He remains merciful. God is MORE THAN ready and willing to welcome the sinner back into his fold. Repentance leads us back to the Lord.It is a gift God gives to draw us back. It is His grace possessing our hearts again. Through Christ, the Father already stands with open arms, like the father in Luke 15.
“How do we return?”
Look to Christ. Trust again. Give the Holy Spirit the opportunity to align your heart again.
Repentance always leads home.
Reflection: Where do I need to return to God today? What burdens am I carrying that Christ already paid for?
Prayer: Faithful God, Thank You that Your love does not change. Turn my heart from sin and draw me near again to Christ. Amen.
Malachi: How have we defiled you?
Devotions this week based on The Prophets Week 12 – Malachi (WATCH HERE)
Let me begin with this thought.
I trust that every gift that individuals have offered to the church has been well meaning and well intentioned.
However, sometimes, honestly, the “church” becomes a step just before the trash pile to receive “gifts” of things that people aren’t using anymore AND have expired their usable lifespan. Usually the item is a result of cleaning out the basement or a new one has been purchased and the old one gets donated.
Malachi challenges the potential mindset of offering God (through his church) our leftovers, the things that aren’t the best, passed their usable timeframe, and really need to be thrown out. The Lord challenges our hearts again to consider, “Am I giving God my best or my leftovers?” “Am I giving God sacrificially or selfishly?” “Am I giving God what reflects what he has given to me or simply what is convenient for me?” Here’s how Malachi confronts “Junk for Jesus.”
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “You place defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty.
If we wouldn’t offer it to the governor of our state, perhaps we should consider if we should be offering it to the Lord.
Lord forgive us for offering less than our best to you. Forgive us for worship that is empty, routine rather than in heart-felt reverence.
The Lord through Malachi reminds us that worship is not payment to God. But worship reveals what our heart treasures most.
The Lord loves us enough to penetrate our heart with this message. In love, he calls us back to him and focus on his goodness and grace and encourages our hearts to reflect the same.
He gave us his best to cover the times we fail to give our best. Christ has given us His perfect offering. He is the Lamb without blemish. Because He has given His best which covers all our sin. The result of Christ’s work? The Spirit moves us to respond with joyful excellence, with grateful generosity, with giving our best not our leftovers. This is simply what the Gospel of grace moves us to do. We don’t have to give to earn love. Love has already been given.
Reflection: What are the “leftovers” I sometimes offer to God? How can I give Him my first and best in worship, in my offerings and daily living?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, Your sacrifice is perfect. Teach me to honor You in how I serve, give, pray, and love. Make my worship a joyful response to Your grace. Amen.
Malachi: How have you loved us?
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.
Zechariah: The Returning King who will reign over all!
Devotions this week based on The Prophets Week 11- Zechariah (WATCH HERE)
Zechariah 14:9, 20-21 The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.
20 On that day HOLY TO THE LORD will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the LORD’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. 21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty.
This past summer I added a laser engraver to my workshop. For years I have enjoyed woodworking and creating gifts and projects that capture a faith memory for people. Weddings, baptisms, confirmations and the like provide opportunities to make a piece that hopefully preserves the day and the significance of it for the individual.
When you engrave something, you make it personal. You can buy cups and tumblers by the dozens, but when you engrave a name or logo on it, now that cup belongs that that individual or connects someone to that company.
At the end of Zechariah, he speaks the word of the LORD and the Lord’s intent to inscribe, “HOLY TO THE LORD” on the bells of the horses as well as the pots of the Lord’s house. These inscriptions were taking the generic and setting it apart from the Lord. No longer would the things of God (the house of the LORD) be corrupted by the things of man (Canaanite).
The day this will be realized is when the Lord Jesus returns to fully bring an end to the effects of sin and the kingdom of God will be seen in its fullness. All of those who are designated “HOLY TO THE LORD” will be with the LORD.
How will this happen and are you included?
All of God’s prophets point ahead to the work of Christ and the salvation he will bring. Zechariah is no different as he speaks of the one who would bring a solution to sin:
Zechariah 13:1 “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
Multiple prophecies are fulfilled by Christ as he rode into Jerusalem on the donkey (Zechariah 9:9) or was pierced finding him dead (12:10).
Yet in his suffering, his victory over sin, death and the devil was secured. The LORD exalted him to the highest place and gave him a name above every name.
Zechariah 14:9, 20-21 The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.
By God’s grace, the LORD has taken you a generic, sinful person and through Christ etched his name, “HOLY TO THE LORD,” on your heart. By God’s grace you are welcomed into his holy temple to be a people that is intent on declaring his praises and serving to his glory. By God’s grace the second coming of Christ will be a day of rejoicing as we welcome our Savior in the skies and he welcomes us into heaven.
For weary believers, Zechariah gives oxygen for hope. Christ will rule. Peace will win. God will dwell with His people forever.
Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus. Strengthen my hope as I wait for Your return. Make me steadfast and faithful until You come again in glory. Amen.
Zechariah: The Shepherd Who Was Pierced!
Devotions this week based on The Prophets Week 11- Zechariah (WATCH HERE)
It’s hard to be optimistic when the visuals are different.
It must have been hard at times to be a prophet of God. The LORD would give you tough words to say that would confront sin. But when he gave you wonderful promises to share, it was often amidst a challenge that looked far different than the promise God gave.
Life was still not easy for the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem after they returned from exile.
Yet the oppression by the surrounding nations would eventually be addressed by the Lord.
Zechariah 12:9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.
It’s always a good day for God’s people when the Lord resolves to take care of their enemies (which is still true today!)
But then Zechariah continues…and perhaps burst the bubble of the Lord against his enemies with an announcement of great mourning coming:
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
The object hasn’t changed from the LORD speaking to begin chapter 12. What an odd sentence to communicate, “They will look on me (the LORD), the one they have pierced.” As the LORD promises to destroy the enemies of God’s people, he is pointing forward to himself as the one who would be that one. But his work wasn’t identified by great victory, but by a piercing. It was identified by mourning by God’s people. It was compared to the untimely death of King Josiah on the plains of Megiddo (2 Chronicles 35:20–25) for which the prophet Jeremiah wrote laments. What could cause this mourning?
The death of Jesus.
Luke 23:27 A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.
A few hours later, the piercing came.
John 19:33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
But what seemed like a tragic death in the moment, was the deliverance the LORD had promised over the enemies of God’s people. Zechariah is given this truth to share:
Zechariah 13:1 “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
What God was doing was what was necessary for the punishment of our sin and impurity. Left on their own, even God’s people would have no solution to confront the enemies of God. Yet, the LORD in essence sends himself to bring victory over our enemies and cleanse us from all sin and impurity. He turns a day of mourning into a day of rejoicing…even today!
Apply: What is happening in your life today that seems like the LORD is absent? What is possible that God is doing to work in the events that bring us tears to bring us his love, peace and forgiveness?
Prayer: Jesus, You were pierced for my transgressions. Thank You for opening the endless fountain of Your grace. Wash me daily in Your mercy. Amen.