Things don’t always live up to expectation. Israel knew all about that. Disappointed and disillusioned, they doubted God’s love. Even when he assured them of his love, they threw it back at him. So he reminds them they are his special people (see Exodus 19:5). (The complex issues of how we should understand, ‘Esau I have hated’ require more space than we have here, but it is probably a way of saying how much God loved Israel rather than that he literally hated Esau.)

God had concerns of his own. In verses we have not read (eg 1:8,13,14), he challenged them about bringing second-rate animals for sacrifice. Now it’s divorcing their wives to marry foreign women and worship their gods. Marriage is not to be ended lightly or for selfish reasons. 

We are in a very different position culturally and in our relationship with God. But still God wants the very best from us in terms of time, devotion, the use of the gifts he has given us, integrity, and fidelity in marriage. Israel charged God with breaking his side of the agreement but the truth was they had broken theirs. God doesn’t stop loving us when we disobey him, but we find that we can no longer fully experience that love. 

Malachi shows us how easy it is to drift spiritually: pray for an open heart and an obedient will as we turn to hear a challenging word from the Lord.

In a compelling book about discipleship, David Watson wrote: ‘The vast majority of western Christians are church members, pew fillers, hymn singers, sermon tasters, Bible readers, even born-again believers or Spirit-filled charismatics – but not true disciples of Jesus.’ Many Christians have drifted into a nominal, easy-going Christianity. Listening to the messenger, Malachi, is a disturbing experience for such Christians, for we discover that God’s people were characterised by apathy, unfaithfulness and even cynicism.

Back home in Jerusalem after the debilitating experience of exile, God’s people had been restored, but now, a generation later, they had become spiritually lethargic and morally lax. ‘I have loved you very deeply’, says the Lord, but you retort, ‘Really? When was this?’ (1:2, The Living Bible). They callously question everything which the Lord proclaims,¹ so the Lord Almighty² replies by reminding them that, despite their extraordinary waywardness, they were God’s chosen people who had been rescued and restored. Unlike Edom, which had reaped judgement for its sinful behaviour (v 4), they had incontrovertible evidence of his loving commitment towards them. Yet they had betrayed that covenant relationship and spurned God’s love by turning towards those who served other gods (2:11).

What a slap in the face for the Lord Almighty – not just spurning his love but mocking his holiness. We might be amazed that it should have come to this, were we not aware of our own wayward hearts. We too can lose sight of God’s love and holiness. ‘So be on your guard’, says Malachi (v 16) – and Jesus gives us the same warning.³ Since we so easily drift spiritually, we urgently need to take note.

What might be the signs of spiritual stagnation in the Christian life? Reflect on what features of personal and corporate faith might be early signs of indifference or decay.

¹ Mal 1:6,7; 2:13,14,17; 3:7,8,13  ² A title which appears 24 times  ³ Luke 12:1,15