Slices
Prepare
‘In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples … the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant’ (Isaiah 11:10,11). Remember that God always has those who are faithful to him.
Bible passage
Breaking covenant by withholding tithes
6 ‘I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.
‘But you ask, “How are we to return?”
8 ‘Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
‘But you ask, “How are we robbing you?”
‘In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse – your whole nation – because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,’ says the Lord Almighty. 12 ‘Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,’ says the Lord Almighty.
Israel speaks arrogantly against God
13 ‘You have spoken arrogantly against me,’ says the Lord.
‘Yet you ask, “What have we said against you?”
14 ‘You have said, “It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.”’
The faithful remnant
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honoured his name.
17 ‘On the day when I act,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Explore
After Saturday’s shaft of light we are back with God’s charges against rebellious Israel. Inferior sacrifices and empty worship, easy, self-indulgent divorce and the worship of foreign gods and now a failure to give God his due. Why (v 14)? They get nothing out of being obedient and serving God, so why bother? But God says otherwise (vs 10–13). While the majority refuse to listen, those who stay faithful will be, as God always intended, his treasured possession (v 17, see Exodus 19:5).
We are in a different place. Christians differ on how we should give and how much – although for many the idea of a tenth forms a useful starting point (v 10). But we have one thing in common with Judah – all that we have comes from God and we hold it on trust. Generosity towards God is never wasted. The idea that if we give to God it will automatically result in financial prosperity has no basis in Scripture, but giving is a means of grace and will bring God’s blessing into our lives. Our love and our worship, in the broadest sense, are seen by God (vs 14,15). We shall not lose out.
Respond
Perhaps it’s time to review your giving to God – in terms of money, time and service?
Deeper Bible study
‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’1
A Joseph Rowntree survey showed that 95 per cent of those questioned found it offensive to be asked how they spent their money. We know that our use of money does not always reflect the grace of Christian giving. In a prophecy that exposes the fraudulent and indifferent worship of God’s people, it’s no surprise that the subject of money is a key indicator of commitment.
Malachi tells it straight. By refusing to honour the Lord in appropriate tithes, the people were displaying more than indifference: this was disobedience. The language of robbing God arises from the fact that they were withholding what rightly belonged to him. The arrogant questions keep coming: ‘How are we robbing you?’ (v 8). Grace provides the bookends for this section. It begins with the affirmation that the Lord does not change and the people will not be destroyed; it closes with memorable affirmations of the Lord’s compassionate care. The curse against the nation (v 9) is matched by the promise of the Lord’s blessing, for alongside judgement there is mercy. Even now, there is time to repent (v 7) and there is the promise of the Lord’s overwhelming – though undeserved – blessing: ‘see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it’ (v 10).
This anticipates that final day, when both blessing and judgement will be seen. Malachi’s image of the book of remembrance (v 16) anticipates John’s vision of the Lamb’s book of life.2 For those who reject the offer of forgiveness there is only judgement ahead, but for those who repent and believe there is nothing to fear. We belong to the Lord as his treasured possession (v 17) and we are safe for ever.
Jesus and Malachi speak of the abundance of God’s blessing. Pray today for the Lord’s refreshment to be poured out on your life, your family and your Christian community.
1 John 7:37,38 2 Rev 3:5; cf Phil 4:3
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Malachi 1,2; Psalms 149,150
Pray for Scripture Union
Last term the north regional team worked on three pilots of a children’s choir called Soul Children that saw children coming along each week to the choir to learn the songs and explore the Bible. Pray that these children will continue to grow in their faith.
