Friday 24 Oct 2014

October 24: Malachi 2:7-9

Key Verse: Malachi 2:7
For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, And people should seek the law from his mouth; For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

Devotion:
If there is one thing that you learn from reading the Old Testament is that man keep on saying that he will do things and does not always get round to doing them! There is a recurring theme whereby man says he will, starts to do it and starts to please God, then falls away, withdraws from God, loses direction, stops obeying God and falls flat on his face once again. Then when the prophets and priests tell the people how bad they have been, they eventually come round to setting things right with God and restarting the same old cycle once again.

But this book has a bit of a difference from the previous books and letters because there is a large gap in time after the prophet was around and the time when Christ came. This is when we should start to remember that God is in charge and that His measurement of time does not always match up with ours. We like things to happen instantly because our time is measures in minutes, hours and days. God is not bound by time and continues to get it right no matter what or when.

But note also that it was the priests’ job to make sure that he knew as much information as possible so that he could pass that on to the people in his care as well as to teach the next generation year after year.

When God says no, we need to listen and to make sure we show Him we are listening. It is great to be able to set things up and show God that you are listening. Trying to pull the wool over God’s eyes is just not going to happen! The priests’ job was to learn the scriptures well enough to be able to explain it all and do it all. It is no good just saying you will do it, or even making sure you do it in school… it is about telling God you will do something for Him and doing it!

Points to Ponder:
How quick are you at doing things for God?

How much do you talk about it instead?