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God's Challenge to us - Part 2
“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. … Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. Malachi 3:6, 10
2500 years ago, God issued the challenge “put me to the test” to priests who were robbing him (Mal 3:8-9). On first reading of the passage (Malachi 1) it may seem that this challenge is not applicable to us. However, when we consider that each person who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour is a priest (Rev 1:6, 1 Pe 2:5,9), the challenge becomes very real and relevant.
The crime behind these charges was that the priests were choosing to offer inferior sacrifices (Mal 1:13-14). By not offering their best to God they were stealing from him the honour and worship he rightly deserves (Mal 2:5, Pro 9:10). Because of their crime the entire nation was also worse off (Mal 3:9) – robbed of fellowship with their God.
I suggest that we may be susceptible to committing the same error – this can occur when we treat our relationship with God with less reverence than we should (Matt 22:37). After all our hearts are no different to the priests we read about in this passage. Mercifully, just as God reached out to them (Mal 3:7) so he reaches out to us also (Ps 103:8) and pledges that if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us (Jam 4:8).
As well as making this pledge he also makes a wonderful promise that can be summarised as: when we offer him our best, he blesses us with something even better. This is shown by the promises of peace and prosperity given in Malachi 3:10-12 as well as the future promise contained in Malachi 3:16-17. Note, as believers we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3) and we have eternal life (1 Jo 3:1-2) – nothing can take these away from us (John 3:18), however, we can lose the enjoyment of them if we fail to appreciate God for who he is!
When we fail to offer God our best, we rob him, those around us as well as ourselves.
God’s Challenge in Context
“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9
