A Devotion from Malachi 1:2
The
Israelites were a disappointed people.
The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah had spoken of a Messiah, a
Redeemer. God’s chosen people had been
brought back to their homeland after years of captivity. The temple had been
rebuilt; the walls around the city had been restored. Yet the Messianic
prophecy had yet to be fulfilled. The
Israelites begin doubting God’s love for them.
They were going through the motions of religion yet were spiritually
cold and apathetic.
Malachi wanted to
stir a revival in the hearts of the Israelites; to turn their heart back toward
God. Malachi reminds the Israelites that
God had loved [loves] them. From hearts
plagued with disappointment and sin, they ask, “How have You (God) loved us”?
(Malachi 1: 2)
How often do
we silently wonder how God has loved us?
We often measure God’s love for us by the current circumstance of our
lives.
When life is “good,” we say God
must really love me.
But, when life is
not so good we wonder, “Does God love me?
Does He find favor in me?” When we doubt God’s love for us, we doubt the
very essence of who God is, for HE IS LOVE.
We progressively begin to doubt our self-worth, questioning the very
foundation of our relationship with God.
We also begin to doubt the value of our worship.[1]
May we never
doubt God’s love for us. And when the
Great Deceiver, Satan, has clouded our reason, may we cry out to God to “give
me faith to trust what You say, that You’re good and Your love is great[2]”.
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