Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
An oracle: The Word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” the Lord says. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
– Malachi 1:1-3
Devotion
Malachi brings down the curtain of the Old Testament. He is the last in a long succession of prophets who foretold the coming of the Messiah. Malachi’s chief concern was that the Israelites relationship to God was not as it should be. They had forgotten God and treated Him with dishonor. His message begins with the tender and sensitive word of Jehovah to His people, “I have loved you.” The people were questioning or doubting the love of God. God reminds them of the origin of their nation. Jacob and Esau were twins. God showed preference between them from the beginning. In reality, Jacob was chosen to be the line through which the Messiah would come. Jacob would birth the nation that would be chosen by God to be His holy people. So, God showed preference to the nation that would become Israel. We need to understand that the difference here between loving and hating is simply that the life of the nation that came from Esau, which is Edom, and the life of the nation that came from Jacob, which is Israel, demonstrate that God was right when He said that He loved one and hated the other. If God loves the good, He has to hate the evil.
The Big Question
Israel had come to a point in their history where they questioned God’s love for them. Despite their rebellious history, God reminds them that He still loved them. It was God’s love for them that caused Him to preserve a remnant to carry on the holy line. Do you ever question or doubt God’s love for you? How does God’s reminder of His love to the Israelites encourage your heart today?
End your time in prayer and silence reflecting on what God revealed to you today?