July 24, 2024

Passage Read: Malachi 1-4
Meditation Verses: 1:7-10

Thought

The governor gets more honor than the Lord. The governor gets nice, healthy animals for his food, but God gets the sickly, the castoffs, the unsellable. Because God can't say anything; He won't do anything. He can't, because He's just a figurehead. But the governor is a real person who can bring trouble on you, even send officers against you! So him you must satisfy, even please, so that he will grant your requests or at least leave you alone to do your own thing. But God is just a figment of man's imagination. So it doesn't matter what you give Him. He can't do anything, good or bad. He won't. But God is, in fact, offended and will bring grief on the people for their lack of respect and honor. He would rather the temple be shut and the people keep their sacrifices. They only insult Him.

Application

The Lord is true and He is a great King, and one day He will take this earth back and install a king over it who does all His righteous will. Anyone who rejects the Lord and holds Him in contempt will be cast out and eternally tormented, because everything was always His, and everyone always owed Him glory and honor and reverence and offering. I owe Him the highest honor. Presidents and governors deserve honor, but God even more. He created all things, even me. He deserves my complete obedience, even if what He asks of me is too heavy a burden, I still need to give it. I have no right to complain; everything I am and have and enjoy comes from Him.