July 8, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“‘If you [the priests of the Temple] do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,’ says the LORD of Hosts, ‘I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.’” (Malachi 2.2)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

One human failure that happens when confronted with the Word of God is to defer the insight saying, “That’s not me” or “I am not that.” David did that when the prophet Nathan, his personal advisor, confronted him with the seduction of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. David deferred the accusation, as Nathan figured he would, because it was a direct one. So, Nathan spoke in terms that David would not dare deny- the terms of a shepherd and his flock. Shepherding was David’s passion. He was known as the Shepherd King. The skills he had honed as a shepherd boy for his father’s flocks, especially when his brothers went off to war against the Philistines with King Saul, were useful in defeating their great enemy, Goliath. Now they would be used to defeat his greatest enemy, himself. In the story Nathan told David, a man had stolen sheep from another flock. To cover up his actions when an accusation was raised, the man killed the other shepherd. David was horrified to hear of such actions and declared the man should be punished. It was at that point Nathan presented the startling realization to David, saying, “You are the man!” David was undone. He repented and appealed to God for mercy. David has to face the trauma of the death of his firstborn son born of Bathsheba from their affair. Mighty ones of God there are terrible consequences we must face when we do not heed wise counsel such as that which comes from the word of God.

Such counsel comes to us who live in the midst of the “New Covenant” from those who lived under the “Old Covenant.” We have heard it said that since we have Jesus, the Old Covenant is nullified. Yes, we are no longer under the Law as the means of salvation but grace. However, we best not forget that all salvation comes from God whether by the Law of Righteousness or the Law of Grace. What is a law, after all, but a rule and guideline to lead and direct one’s thoughts and actions in a direction of safety and security? There is much in the “history” of Israel recorded in God’s Word which speaks to the human condition of which we are a part. Just because we are “not Jewish” does not mean we do not share similar thoughts, experiences and consequences. To say “I do not need to pay attention to the Old Testament (which, by the way, presents the prophecies concerning the Messiah whom we know is Jesus of Nazareth)” is foolishness. We know the saying, “Those who do not learn from history (and their mistakes as well as successes) are doomed to repeat them.” Jesus said “I did not come to do away with the Law and the Prophets but that the Law and the Prophets be fulfilled through Me.” (Matthew 5.17-18) Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s anticipatory Word. Our recognition of Him as Messiah, Christ and Savior is built upon our understanding of those prophecies. We embolden our witness as we use their testimony to increase our own to others concerning Jesus as the Christ of God. To deny, defer or detract from that witness leads only to a greater sense of guilt for the failure to become who we are meant to be. We, as mighty ones of God, are prophesied about as well.

What? Where? Mighty ones of God, we are, as Peter wrote to the early Church, “…a priesthood of all believers.” (1 Peter 2.9) We are called out and set apart (sanctified) from the rest of the world not to be better than the world but to make the world better because of our faithful service and identity with God. The failure of the modern Church will be seen as it attempts to accommodate the ways of the world instead of leading the world with, for and to Jesus who is “…the only way, truth and life.” (John 14.4) We need to have that rubric and template of righteousness which comes in God’s word to hone our skills of being shepherds of faith and priests of hope and love. In all of that, we are presented with a foreshadowing of what will happen if we do not. That foreshadowing comes in Malachi, chapter 2. It is here that God condemns the failure of the priests to be righteous and holy. They haphazardly go through the motions of being God’s sacred servants. They have allowed their service and their mindset to become polluted with self-serving ideology and practice. They offer inferior sacrifices which reflect the conditions of their heart, mind and soul instead of that which God had created and blessed. They excel in living the lie and presenting the truth as “something for others.” What God says will be “their fruit” will be a bitter one and worse. The same applies to us as members of the “priesthood of all believers.” Let those with eyes to see see themselves in light of the truth and repent. Let those with ears to hear hear the word of God in its conviction and in its redemption.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works leading others to call Jesus Lord in faith, hope and love. AMEN.