Godly Discipline

  • Jason Smith
  • Mar 14, 2010
  • Series: When God is Gone: A Study of the Book of Malachi

Today, we are in our fifth week of this our series in Malachi, called When God is Gone. We have seen a theme progressing as we have made our way through this little book at the end of the Old Testament. The people had lost their connection with God because of their sin and pride; they had abandoned God in their hearts. Throughout this book we see the truth of the situation when God speaks to the people and their confusion about reality. The first week we looked at Godly Love; how God’s electing love should have been apparent to the people, yet they questioned God’s love for them. The second week, Devin show us the essence of Godly Worship; how the people had abandoned giving God their best and were just going through the motions in half-hearted worship. The third week, we discovered that the root of the problem was that there was a lack of Godly Leadership; how the priests had compromised and were leading the people away from God instead of to Him. Last week we look at Godly Relationships; how the people were lowering the standards of God by marrying those who didn’t believe in Him and giving up on their marriages in divorce. Today we come to Malachi 2:17-3:5 and we are looking at Godly Discipline.

Hopefully, you remember that the Israelites in Malachi’s day found themselves back in the Promised Land with a rebuilt temple; yet they were distressed because the prophetic promises of restored prosperity and prominence were not apparent to them. They were starting to get the feeling that God had left them. That he had forsaken them. Instead of blessing, it seemed as if they were under a curse with continued social, political, and economic oppression. They were struggling with the reality that as God chosen people they seemed to be abandoned, while those who were not God’s people were prospering. The speaks to our hearts many times in our relationship with God. We look around at those who are living for themselves and gratifying the desires of the flesh and we see no difference in how God blesses them than He does us. We see rampant evil in this world; the innocent suffering; the righteous vilified and we begin to ask ourselves if God is gone. The fact is that just like the Israelites in Malachi’s day, We struggle to reconcile the evil in this world with a good and engaged God. We find the answers to their questions and ours in our passage today.