July 9, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“‘Because of you I will rebuke your descendants. I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. And you will know that I have sent you this warning so that My covenant with Levi may continue,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi 2.3-4)

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

So, let’s imagine what the worship service was like in the days of Malachi under the priests who compromised their ministry with that of being in the world. It’s not that I really want to, mind you, because it is a terrible scene. Of course, what Ezekiel was shown about what was happening in the Temple that caused God to let “nature” run its course, the nature of the world, was vile as well. Why is so much written about the failure of the priests in scripture. Do we really want our dirty laundry aired out on the line for everyone to see? Except, I believe that was the point God has been trying to make all along. Left in the hands of human beings, life gets messy. The failure to honor God, follow God’s instructions and act in accord to the broken human nature was reported to not show the failure of God’s ways. No, it is a reality check that following God’s ways is the path to an unmessy life. From the very first priests, Adam and Eve, to the Chief High Priest of Heaven and Earth, Jesus Christ, we are called to live and walk in obedience to the Spirit of God. And when we don’t? Well, the descriptor in Malachi 2.3-4 is graphic and poignant: they are covered in their own filth which is product of their false and lackluster worship. I have debated whether to write this or not because of its graphic nature but the root of the use of the term in today’s common vernacular is found here in Malachi. How many people do you know who get “shit-faced” because they party too much? Some say the origin of the term originated in the 1960s. Other say as far back as Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales. But, right there in Malachi, God makes His observation quite clear. He is going to rub the noses of the rebellious and sinful priests in the offal of their own making. They will become a disgrace. They will have no dignity left because they forsook integrity. The word is recorded for all to see. We can see it not to downgrade “religion” but to be warned that there is but one true religion. James, the half-brother of Jesus and overseer of the Church in Jerusalem, wrote “There is but one true religion. It does right by the widows and the orphans. It does not seek to become polluted by the ways of the world.” (James 1.27) The word is given to the Church of today and those who decry religion. It is not the religion that is bad but those who practice bad religion. If you wonder why God had all the structure and stricture in place as to the how, when, why, where and what of faith practices including the commandments to love God, one another and the Ten Commandments which describe the right relationship of humanity to God and humanity to humanity, Malachi is a good example of what happens when those who are its administrators don’t. We are in need of discipline. We are in need of guidance. We are not in need to designing and defining for ourselves what is a godly and goodly life. It is already prescribed in God’s Word with its blessings and curses, its successes and failures, its love and its hate. Heed the word that is for me, you and all people.

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.