Always

Monday March 9, 2015

I was talking with a friend whose marriage had ended in a divorce. For years he tried to apologise and to rebuild a relationship that was broken. His wife, however, was bitter over an event that she couldn´t forgive - or forget. The event involved a loving act he had done to help her, but she didn´t see it that way. And her heart became stone.

The prophet Malachi brought a message of love and forgiveness to God´s people. Though they had sinned against God and had for decades been brutally carried off into exile as a means of His discipline, they had been permitted to return to their homeland. Knowing they were beaten down from their experiences in Babylon, God said to them, "I have always loved you" (Malachi 1:2). The people, cynical and sceptical, retorted, "Really? How have you loved us?" God then declared His control over human events and His promise to deal with Judah´s adversaries (vv.2-5) - something very loving!

Later, He said, "I am the Lord, and I do not change" (3:6). Had He allowed His people to be brought into captivity due to their sin? Yes. Did He love them enough to do so? Yes. Had He patiently waited for the returned exiles to repent of their lack of true worship and to stop doubting Him? (vv. 7-8, 13-14). Yes.

God stood before His people offering unchanging love and forgiveness. But He also sought the right heart response : "Those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said" (v.16). Of those faithful believers God said, "They will be my own special treasure" (v.17).

Due to difficult events, perhaps your heart for God has grown cool and has started to harden. Remember that He waits for you with open arms (Luke 15:20). You´re the special treasure He loves - always! - Tom Felten

Read
Malachi 1:1-5
An oracle : The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi
"I have loved you," says the Lord.
"But you ask, 'How have you loved us?'"
"Was not Esau Jacob´s brother?" the Lord says. 
"Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."
Edom may say, "Though we have been crushed, we will rebuild the ruins."
But this is what the Lord Almighty says : "They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Wicked Land, a people always under the wrath of the Lord. You will see it with your own eyes and say, 'Great is the Lord - even beyond the borders of Israel!' "

Malachi 3:6-18
"I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the Lord Almighty.
"But you ask, 'How are we to return?'"
"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "
"In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the Lord Almighty. "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty.
"You have said harsh things against me," says the Lord.
"Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?' "
"You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' "
Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
"They will be mine," says the Lord Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

Psalm 103:1-5
Praise the Lord, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle´s.

Question to Ponder
What difficulties have caused you to doubt God or to turn from Him?
How does the fact that He always loves you encourage your heart today?

**Article taken from ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God) March 2015 - May 2015 issue