Theological Commentary: Click Here
Malachi is a
prophet too the Hebrew people coming back from exile. Times are tough for the people. They have to give taxes to the Persian king
who granted them permission to return.
They have to fend off the people who came into the land after the
Babylonians dragged them out. They don’t
only have to survive, but rebuild. It
was a hard life, filled with distraction, disruption, and defeat.
It makes
sense the people would get frustrated and lose sight of the goal. It also makes sense that the Lord would need
to send prophets to inspire and motivate them.
This is what Malachi is sent to do.
I love Malachi’s
opening analogy. The Lord is either
father or master.
If He is
father, then we should be in relationship with Him. We should seek Him out. We should honor His presence. We should enact His wisdom. We should bear His name upon our brow with
joy!
If he is
master, then we should obey His command.
We should do as He asks. We
should fear His rebuke. We should be His
dutiful hands and feet.
God’s issue is
that as the people and the priest have come back from exile they are doing
neither. They are going back to their
own rebellion because life is hard. Instead
of loving God or fearing Him, they are deserting Him. They are offering up pitiful sacrifices
because they have to, not because they want to.
God deserves
so much more than our cast-off sacrifices.
He deserves to be the prime of our life.
He deserves to be our core relationship.
He should be our God, not our afterthought.
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