During the pre-service prayer time that our family leads, the kids often pray that we would mean what we sing. That’s a great prayer, because we want to be sincere in our worship. However, this past week I was thinking that even that prayer can be rote rather than heartfelt.
As I
reviewed the six questions God answered in the book of Malachi, it struck me
how many of the questions related to insincere worship. God was faithful in His
love for Israel. He didn’t change, but they had moved away from Him. Let’s look
at all six together again:
1. How He loved Israel
Malachi 1:2 “I
have loved you,” says the Lord.
“But you ask, ‘How have
you loved us?’
“Was not Esau Jacob’s
brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,
God pointed out that He had
chosen to love Jacob (Israel) and to bring about His salvation plan through
Jacob’s descendants. God wouldn’t fall out of love with Israel, and He won’t
fall out of love with the rest of His followers either.
2. How they had disrespected Him
Malachi 1:6b-7 “It is you priests who show
contempt for my name.
“But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’
7 “By offering defiled food on my altar.
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’
“By saying that the Lord’s table is
contemptible.
Their defiled animal
sacrifices and empty rituals were detestable to Him.
3. Where His justice was
Malachi 2:17 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 3:1 “I will send my
messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the
Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the
covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says
the Lord Almighty.
God’s plans for justice
may seem quite delayed to us, but they are unfolding in His perfect time.
4. How Israel was to return to God &
5. How they were robbing God
Malachi 3:7-8 Ever since the time of your ancestors 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?’
8 “Will a mere mortal
rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings.
They were to return to
God by repenting and turning back to obedience to His laws. They had been
unfaithful and had robbed Him by withholding the small portion He had asked of
them.
6. How they had spoken arrogantly
Malachi 3:13-14 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says
the Lord.
“Yet you
ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to
serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going
about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?
Their service to God
seemed futile because it was hollow.
The Israelites were going through the motions of worshipping and serving
God, but they weren’t doing it out of true love for Him. They disobeyed His
instructions for how to worship and serve Him. They were even blind to their own
errors, which is why they kept asking, “How?”
What about you and me? Are we going through the motions, trying to look as
if we worship and serve God, while our hearts aren’t in the right place? Are
our prayers rote or genuine? Are we worshipping Him the way we want – the way
that’s easiest and most comfortable – or the way He desires?
Our love is inconsistent, but God’s love is complete, eternal, and never
changing. I pray that we would grow in sincere love and devotion to God as we more
fully grasp His love for us and His faithfulness to all His promises.
Alice
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