July 10, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“My covenant was with him [Levi], a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him. This called for reverence and he revered me. He stood in awe of My name. True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with Me in peace and uprightness. He turned many from sin.” (Malachi 2.5-6)

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

Isn’t this the way it should be? God described the appropriate response for us to be in relationship with Him in these two verses.

It starts with God. We have to remember that God has done, is doing and will do “a great thing.” We saw that in our encounter with Isaiah as he encountered God. Isaiah was reminded and in turn reminded the people of this truth. If they would hold on to it and realize they were a part of it, then regardless of the circumstances in which they would find themselves, God’s will would be done. Paul wrote to the believers in Philippi, “I am confident of this thing: that He who has worked a great thing in you will continue to perfect it until it is completed when Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1.6) He would go on to say, “I have learned that in whatever condition or state of being I find myself in, I will be content as I have known both lean and plenty [in Christ Jesus.]” (Philippians 4.11) God does not and will not ask of us more than we are capable of doing nor more than what He Himself has done. We see the evidence of that in Jesus who is the Christ. God provided for Him in His provision for us. Right relationships always begin with God. We do not earn His love and respect. He gives it because He is in covenant relationship with us. If He did not give it, then we would never know it!

The gift and promise of “life and peace” invokes reverence and awe. Central to our existence is peace. Paul identified it with “contentment.” Understand, as Paul understood it, that the world is never really at peace. It is in a constant state of conflict. So, too, is the earth. We have seen the evidences of some of that conflict in just this past year with wind, fire and flood. The forces of nature are in constant motion. The very tectonic plates on which we live are in movement. The atmosphere in which we breathe and have life is always changing and remaining the same since the beginning of time. What of our own conflicts as people living in community with other people. Every step we take, every breath we take, every thought leads to some kind of action and response. Mind you, not all conflict is bad. In the human desire to “avoid” conflict, we ought to confess that it took an act of moving against or away from something in order to accomplish it. Our very call to a life of righteousness requires repentance. Repentance is the turning away from a wrong thing and turning toward one that is right. In the midst of all of that, we must be at peace and contentment within ourselves. Don’t you find it strange that in the hope of “controlling nature” we do not give greater consideration to “controlling ourselves.” True control and mastery of one’s self comes only when the connectedness with God is the valued pursuit. In those moments when we experience such peace and contentment that even if all else is falling down around us, we are not moved away from God. We press into His presence. We breathe in the countenance of His Holy Spirit. We “put our trust in Him and lean not on our own understandings.” (Proverbs 3.4) When that happens there is that feeling and awareness of, as Jesus declared it for our salvation, “What is impossible for every human being is fully possible with God.” (Luke 18.27) Such a feeling is actually the invocation of “reverence and awe.”

The goal of life is to turn others away from sin. The ultimate conflict, of course, is the one which exists between “righteousness and sinfulness.” The priest was called to lead the people into the awareness of the presence of God “in spirit and in truth.” Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well that “spirit and truth” was the invocation of worship and service. We cannot truly worship and serve God without “spirit and truth.” Those who live accordingly encounter sin because it is in the world with faith and fortitude. They, we, are in conflict with the enemy. Remembering the command, “Rebuke the Devil and he will flee,” (James 4.7) invokes a place and time of worship and service. Satan has no desire to be in a place where “spirit and truth” are alive and well. So, whether it is with sacrifices, the rehearsal of scripture, the singing of “hymns, psalms, songs and spiritual songs,” the breaking of bread, the teaching of the Word or contemplation the purpose is for turning ourselves and others away from sin. This is the life which we are called to live in this world. We cannot fight against the calling as if it isn’t true. We live in a sinful and broken world. Those who live on earth are in conflict with the order of life according to the Enemy of God and humanity. We conflict his order with the order of God. His orders are to live in faith, hope and love with all people; especially to do so with one another within the community of faith. It is difficult but not impossible. Why is it not impossible? Because, as when we started this reflection, “God has started” the road to recovery, renewal, reconciliation, restoration and redemption. This is the life of those who are His priests and in Christ Jesus we are “a priesthood of all believers.” We are not of the old way but the new way. It is the way of Jesus who is “the way, the truth and the life.“

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.