August 4, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“‘You have spoken arrogantly against Me,’ says the Lord. ‘Yet you ask: ‘What have we said against you?’ You have said: ‘It is futile to serve God.’” (Malachi 3.13-14a)

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

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone who is so sold out to what they think they have lost contact with what they are saying? Out of bitterness, angst, trial, brutality, confusion, depression and disillusionment, we all have had moments when our emotions become stronger that reason. In those moments, our emotions become our reason and our responses are irrational. We think they are rational while others consider them arrogance, misguided ideas and foolishness. We will even defend ourselves in the midst of that emotional vocabulary while in the back of our minds something different echoes hauntingly. We lose our perspective on the big picture by believing the little picture is our true reality. All of this happens especially when things are not going our way. In those moments we lose sight of God and we lose touch with God who is Immanuel, God with us. We replace God with “god.” We attempt to validate the existence and prominence of our “god” over and against the God. It is a dark and sinister place. It is this kind of place that the Temple rulers were in as Malachi was called to prophesy to them and against them. They could not recognize their own words as arrogance.

God declares two things in this section of instruction: you have said things against Me and it is futile to serve [that is, ‘to worship’] Me. I wonder, mighty ones of God, how often we may have said these very words ourselves. We confine such commands as “do not take the Lord’s name in vain” to simply mean “don’t cuss.” You know that GDI statement we hear people bandy about. But it means so much more “to not take the Lord’s name in vain.” The name of the Lord has been placed upon us and within us in our conception. To hear Jeremiah declare God’s truth, “Before you were in the womb, I knew you!” (Jeremiah 1.5), is in fact the impressing of God’s name on Jeremiah’s heart, mind, body, soul and purpose. It is on ours as well. We are representatives of the name of the Lord. We are His. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture. We are the work of His hands which He continues to shape until completion as long as we remain pliable and humble. When, however, we act out and apart from God, we are “taking the Lord’s name in vain.” It happens also when we curse someone. How dare we act as if we have power and authority over the life of another to stand in judgment and determine the end of one’s existence in our midst. Yes, those in Malachi’s day (before and after as well) were fond of saying things against God. Instead of seeking Him out and deciding to learn of the truths He is showing us, we mock and deride His creation to establish our permanence and prominence among all others. There is but one God and we are not Him.

Because He is God and we are not, the reward and blessing for which we think we are working falls into the realm of “immediate gratification.” If the world was left to us, it would be utterly destroyed because most of the population functions by the “do it now/want it now” mantra. I am amused by those who subscribe to denying the age of the earth, the solar system, the galaxy, the galaxies and the universe based on Genesis 1. Holding to a literal six-day creation theme fosters the idea that God acts in the grand scheme within a human timeframe (i.e. do it quickly and everything else should be done in the same manner.) Mighty ones of God, I would not believe that we would be comfortable or able to receive “what we ask for of God” in the immediate moment or even in twenty-four hours. God’s method of provision is based on a bigger picture and not on the single frames. This may help us to understand why some prayers are answered immediately, while some take time and others in ways that we cannot imagine and have not seen. Because, however, we do not have this “God immediacy” and on our terms of satisfaction, many have turned away from or against God or the idea of God as a loving Father. Further, the futility mentioned in today’s passage reflects more on the “reward system,” especially the give me something for nothing mentality which continues to be pervasive to this day. Our lack of understanding of the way and mean of God may create our arrogance about God and against God. It is not God who should change to meet us on our terms. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Do not conform to the ways of this world; instead, be transformed by the renewal of your mind [included in this term is the heart and soul).” It sounds like solid advice. Sadly it is advice the Temple leadership did not take to heart and because of their arrogance a great sacrifice had to be made.

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 which bring others near to Jesus in faith, hope and love. AMEN.