Christian Devotional – June 20, 2020

Before the Gap – #1

Malachi is a very interesting book. It is the last book of the Old Testament and it was written right before a gap of 400 years when the Lord was silent to his people. What was so important for him to say right before he went silent? That will be the focus for us through this book. Read Malachi 1:1-5.

The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. “I have loved you,” says the Lord . But you say, “How have You loved us?” ” Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord . “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the Lord of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the Lord is indignant forever.” Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel!”
Malachi 1:1‭-‬5 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/mal.1.1-5.NASB

The Lord is trying to remind his people that he loves them, but they just don’t see it. They are blind to the work that God has done in their midst and the work that God wants to continue to do for them. He ends this section by reminding them that he is going to be glorified beyond just the people of Israel.

Do we recognize all that God is doing, or are we busy questioning all that God has done. God doesn’t have to explain himself to us. God is going to glorify Himself through us, but it will go beyond us. He doesn’t provide just for us and we need to remember the provision that he makes for others.