The Minor Writing Prophets XI: Malachi - an answer man

This week we come to the prophet who is also the author of the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi.  We know little about him, but learn much about what the people returning from exile were thinking.  In his work, Malachi names questions of the people and then addresses them with God's answers.  In the process, we are reminded of lessons for us as well.

First we are reminded not to doubt the love of God.  We live in a society that doubts God's love in many ways.  And to be fair, given all of the bad things that happen around us everyday, it can be easy for us to begin to doubt this love.  Yet God assures us that God loves us and offers proof about that love, even in the midst of tragedy if we are able to open our eyes to see it.

Second, we should not divorce God's covenant.  As in the prophet Hosea, God uses the marriage covenant to remind us that we need to be faithful to our covenant with God.  But in the midst of that, we also are reminded that God's plan for marriage did not include divorce.  This is not to say that we should not offer grace and God's love to those who have journeyed that path; but it is a reminder that as believers, we should not take our wedding vows lightly nor should we look to divorce as the answer to marital difficulties.  Even people who have gone through divorce typically agree that it is not something they would want to do again or would recommend to someone else.  We need to be proactive in maintaining our marriage vows so that we do not come to the place of needing to be reactive.

Third, we should not divest God of his storehouse.  The people of God were robbing God by not bringing their full tithes or offerings.  In the process, they robbed themselves of the blessings that God had for them and they robbed the foreigners of the witness of God's work.  While we should be careful about becoming legalistic about the tithe, it is a reminder that we are to bring our whole selves before God and offer our best and fullness to God's purposes.

In a world of questions and a multitude of sources from which we can acquire answers, Malachi served as an answer man to the people of God and perhaps still to us today.  May we also take our questions before the Lord and may we live into the answers that we receive.