August 12, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“‘Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi 4.3)

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

Understand the image which God is presenting. He will act for the sake of righteousness; His righteousness. This one verse reminds us that we will not trample on the wicked and reduce them to ashes. We who put our faith in Him and seek to live out the pursuit of righteousness with all our heart, mind, soul and strength will continue to walk in His presence. The result of the judgment of death is to put sin into a state where it is no longer a threat to the people of God. That result will be like the ashes which remain after the judgment by fire. The mighty towers of humanity will crumble and fall. They will be reduced to rubble, crushed into grains of sand. The course of true discipleship takes us through the cycle of “dying to self to live in the Kingdom of God.” To live for one’s self apart from the will of God is the course of sin. We must confess our sinful desire to live apart from the will of God. We must profess that it is by Him alone that we shall have life and have it abundantly.

Perhaps the reason why there are trials and tribulations in this world is because our faith in Him must be tested. Do we believe in Him? Do we trust in Him at all times? Will we be willing to lay down the hold we have on our lives and surrender it all into His hands? Mighty ones of God, even Jesus had to endure the trial and tribulation of death. He was not exempt from it. The choice had to be made to lay down His life for the sake of another. He did so in honoring His heavenly Father and trusting in the plan of salvation which had been set before Him and at work through Him. To lay it aside to save His own life would have been forfeiting the lives of all others. Though He was without sin, He took on our sin and bore it on the cross. His death was our death so that His life would be our life. It is so when we die to self and live for Him. This is the taking up of our cross to follow Him. Though the world will pass away, behold a new world is brought into being. We are made a new creation in Him. The question is for each of us “What must become ashes in our own lives scattered on the ground of the earth so that we can walk in faith, hope and love?” Will we accept the challenge to walk by faith and not by sight, mighty ones of God? See what God has promised to those who pursue righteousness and know that it is given to you because of the Father’s love.

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 of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.