Malachi | Blind Animals

Malachi just might be my favorite book in the bible. It is convicting and harsh. But It speaks of God's love and is a call to repentance. A call to return to the Lord of heavens armies. I'll be writing a few posts on what God has taught me through the book of Malachi. I hope you are as encouraged as I have been. If You'd like to look at other posts on Malachi, click here.

Here I am. I'm sitting in church pew singing songs that lift high the name of my God, the Lord of Heaven's Armies. I sing and I even try to sing nicely. But as the music ends and I sit listening to the pastor, I realize I never even acknowledged God that entire time. It was half-hearted and empty.

I sometimes get so used to the songs and the repetition of things that I don't give myself fully to the Lord. I don't give Him the praise and worship He deserves.

And then as the church service ends, I go home and my prayers are hardly even that and I continue about my business.

Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever found yourself becoming so used to the way you spend your days that your worship and prayer life do not give God the honor He deserves?

Malachi makes it pretty clear that God despises this kind of sacrificial worship.

The Lord of Heaven's Armies says to the priests: "A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name!" (Malachi 1:6)

The people wonder at how they've shown contempt and God was more than happy to answer their question.

"You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.
"Then you ask, 'How have we defiled the sacrifices?'
"You have defiled them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn't that wrong? And isn't it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!" says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, (Malachi 1:7-8).

In this passage God has an issue with the priests. It isn't an external issue, that they offered a blind animal, the issue was internal, a matter of the heart. The priests were not giving God their best.

This is a wake up call for you and for me. How often do we not give God our best?  They dishonored God in spite of His Fatherly care and masterly power. God was not happy about the way they showed contempt for His name. His name is His reputation or character, and the Judeans were showing how little they thought of God by giving Him worthless offerings.

"How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, "and I will not accept your offerings. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name  is great among the nations," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, (Malachi 1:10-11).

God is worthy of our praise. He is deserving of sacrificial worship. I will choose no longer give Him blind animals. I will choose to, instead, offer sweet incense, pure offerings and true honor from morning till night. I will choose to have a heart like David as he determined to never give unto God that which cost him nothing.

Honor the Lord for the glory of His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty sea, (Psalm 29:2-3). 

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Malachi | You Are Loved

Malachi just might be my favorite book in the bible. It is convicting and harsh. But It speaks of God's love and is a call to repentance. A call to return to the Lord of heavens armies. I'll be writing a few posts on what God has taught me through the book of Malachi. I hope you are as encouraged as I have been.

The hours drag as I sit with quiet arguments going on in my confused little mind. It's like having a mini angel and demon on your shoulder whispering lies and truth.

You are a sinner. That's all you'll ever be. Look at yourself and look at God. How could He love you?

Yes, indeed. How does God love me? It seems I'm always falling off the deep end, struggling to reach the top. But I forget one thing: the struggle is over. God has reached down and pulled me out of those deep waters where now I can breathe freely.

Yes I sin, and (though I wish it weren't the case) I will keep sinning until the day God calls me home. I will keep stepping off the edge into rough, un-tame waters, and lose my footing but God is always there to pull me right back out.

I have come to grasp the fact that I will never understand the love of the Lord of heavens armies. But He does in fact love us no matter our shortcomings.

"'I have always loved you,' says the Lord," (Malachi 1:2).

It doesn't say I once loved you long ago. It's not I will love you someday once you stop sinning.

He says I have always loved you. I loved you then, I love you now, and I will love you forever.

You don't need to be a better person to earn God's love. You don't need to clean your life up before you go to God. You don't need to pretend to be someone you're not. Come as you are. That doesn't mean you should use His unconditional love as an excuse to sin. It doesn't mean God is okay with your sin. He hates sin.

But you and I can do nothing to earn His love and we can do nothing to deter His love.

This means that all those lies you hear about you not being good enough- you get to throw 'em out the five-story-building window! He is enough. His love is enough, and it covers you.

So take a deep breath and remember you're not drowning. God has reached down Himself to pull you out and give you breath.

You are loved.

"You are precious to me. You are honored, and I love you," (Isaiah 43:4).