Christian Devotional – December 26, 2020

Before the Silence, #6

The people were upset. The Lord wasn’t accepting their offerings, but they weren’t willing to change anything. Read Malachi 2:10-17.

Do we not all have one Father ? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob —even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty. Another thing you do: You flood the Lord ’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord , the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful. You have wearied the Lord with your words. “How have we wearied him?” you ask. By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord , and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”
Malachi 2:10‭-‬17 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/mal.2.10-17.NIV

The people had so many ways that they had fallen short of God’s best. He wanted so much from them and they continued to fall down. Unfortunately, they also didn’t want to change or have their faults pointed out to them.

We may get upset and frustrated with God and with what God is doing or not doing, but what are we doing differently? How can we make things right? We have to repent. The people weren’t willing to do that.

Nothing has changed for us. If we want to experience God’s best for us, then we need to be able to repent and come to him directly. Will we do that?