No Fear of the Lord
God sees and knows all we do, and He knows why we do it. Still, we have believers who try to trick God. They tell Him one thing, but they do another thing on purpose. How could we think we could ever get away with that? The answer is that we do not have the fear of the Lord that we should have. This happened in Malachi's day, too. (Malachi 1:14) It is very important for us to learn from this example, so we do not suffer God's wrath.
In Malachi's time people would vow to give an unblemished male animal to the Lord, but when it came time for the sacrifice, they would switch and give a blemished animal instead. What were they thinking? They may have thought God could not see, or He did not care. However, they knew better than that from His Word. The main reason was they cared more for their money than they did about pleasing the Lord, so they took a chance God would not be angry. The result was that God put a curse on these people who tried to swindle Him. Have you ever been guilty of something like this?
We must live with a healthy fear of God, or we will find ourselves trying to swindle God out of things that belong to Him. We can't really do that, but if we try, we are in big trouble, because we have been deceptive toward the all-powerful Lord of the universe, who knows all things. Now, here is the clincher in this lesson. If believers try to do this, and unbelievers (the nations) hear about it or see it personally, what does that say to them? It says that God's name does not need to be feared. However, God has proclaimed that His name will be feared among the nations, so He has to pour out a harsh punishment on these swindlers, so that others see He is to be feared.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Malachi 2-4.
In Malachi's time people would vow to give an unblemished male animal to the Lord, but when it came time for the sacrifice, they would switch and give a blemished animal instead. What were they thinking? They may have thought God could not see, or He did not care. However, they knew better than that from His Word. The main reason was they cared more for their money than they did about pleasing the Lord, so they took a chance God would not be angry. The result was that God put a curse on these people who tried to swindle Him. Have you ever been guilty of something like this?
We must live with a healthy fear of God, or we will find ourselves trying to swindle God out of things that belong to Him. We can't really do that, but if we try, we are in big trouble, because we have been deceptive toward the all-powerful Lord of the universe, who knows all things. Now, here is the clincher in this lesson. If believers try to do this, and unbelievers (the nations) hear about it or see it personally, what does that say to them? It says that God's name does not need to be feared. However, God has proclaimed that His name will be feared among the nations, so He has to pour out a harsh punishment on these swindlers, so that others see He is to be feared.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Malachi 2-4.