conversations | What's The Good Word?

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Malachi 3:1-4:6; Revelation 22:1-21; Psalm 150:1-6; Proverbs 31:25-31

“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord.

But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?

You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God.

What is the profit of our keeping his charge or

walking as in mourning before the Lord of Hosts?

And now we call the arrogant blessed.

Evil doers no only prosper, but

they put God to the test and they escape.”

Malachi 3:13-15

I hate to admit it but I’ve had similar conversations with God. “It’s just not fair God…I go to church regularly, I give my offerings, I try to live the way you want me to live. I stay away from overindulgence. I pray–a lot. Why then do people who live just the opposite seem to be so successful, so at peace, so content with their lives? Does it really matter how I live, that I believe in You?”

I hear God’s answer.

Yes.

“For behold the day is coming,

burning like an oven when all the arrogant

and evil doers will be stubble.

The day that is coming shall set them ablaze,

says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them

neither root nor branch.

But for you who fear my name,

the sun of righteousness shall rise

with healing in its wings…

And you shall tread down the wicked,

for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet,

on the day when I act, says the Lord.”

Malachi 4:1-3

Lord God, I know in my heart I’m just like them–I sin, I worry, I fret, I strive, I reach, I grasp for things and not for Him. Lord have mercy. Forgive me for my hollow, shallow offerings of time, of service to others, of feeble tithes. Forgive my complaining, grumbling, comparing, my lack of gratitude and praise. Lord have mercy. May I lean on You, put the full weight of my future, the New Year coming, onto your sturdy, faithful frame. You have spoken, “I the Lord do not change.” You will not shift, or hide or disappear, or shirk or flee or run in the year to come. Lord you have had mercy on me and for that I am so very thankful. Thank you for your love, your forgiveness, your forever promises.

“Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;

praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

praise him with the harp and lyre,

praise him with tambourine and dancing,

praise him with the strings and flute,

praise him with the clash of cymbals,

praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath

praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150