As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Steve Adams):

It’s the very first word of this passage that strikes me as being deceptively important — remember. We think of the word as being strictly the ability to recall, but I think God was asking the readers of Malachi to do something much bigger than simply recalling what Moses decreed. Likewise, God calls us to something more comprehensive than simply remembering the truths we’ve learned.

For example, I remember that I intended to make a budget for this month, but I nevertheless went out and overspent. Or, I made a budget, but still overspent. Or, I remembered to set my alarm for 6:30 am, but, when 6:30 arrived, the bed felt so good that I couldn’t resist sleeping for another hour. The hunger to overspend or oversleep are just two of the countless urges we are confronted with.

Life is full of examples of humankind’s struggle to attain self-control — the person who can’t resist overeating when there’s lots of good food in the refrigerator; the person who can’t resist drinking too much when they’re at the party; the person who can’t resist coldly criticizing a mutual acquaintance when sitting with a group of gossipers; even the person who can’t resist a sexual encounter even though they have pledged fidelity to their spouse.

When we fall to temptations like these, have we truly remembered? I don’t think so — not, at least, in the way God desires us to. God wants us to remember with our whole heart and soul; to the comprehensive, holistic extent that we’ll do what we know is right, even when that requires us to forsake what we’d rather do. When that happens, we have integrity. For Christians, I think this means trusting God that we will have an abundance of pleasure when we stay on the sacred path laid out before us.

Now, let’s be honest! When we’re truly being tempted, our idea of pleasure may not be the same as God’s! It’s at those times, though, that we need to remember that, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways, and God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts!

Thought for the day: Lord Jesus, help me internalize the standards you set for me, so that when enticement and opportunity meet, I’ll have the self-control to choose the high road.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (David Squire):

At first glance, this passage looks like primitive wish-fulfillment — God, kill all my enemies and make my life a paradise. (OK, maybe not just primitive people think this way.)

But I’m struck by how similar the description of God’s action/presence is for both the wicked and the righteous. Since the wicked are consumed by fire, wouldn’t you expect the righteous to relax by cooling streams? Instead, they’re in the warm sunshine. I wonder…

Maybe they’re both in the same place, and rather than being “acted upon” by God, are simply in God’s presence — God’s holy presence that consumes all that is not righteous.

Maybe how I will respond to God’s presence/judgment will depend entirely on how open I am (and have been) to the work of God already.

So if I’m counted among “all the arrogant and all evildoers” — which I see as being a rejection of God’s way of life — then God’s presence burns all that away. It would surely feel like a searing flame if the greater part of my being — or all of me — were consumed.

If I’ve allowed God into my space already, and God has already been at work “burning away” the chaff of my heart, then God’s presence feels to me like the warm sunshine.

Thought for the day: When I’m directly present with God, will it feel like sunshine? Or are there parts of my life that will still burn away?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Tyler Connoley):

I was in college and had been having a really rough semester. In particular, I felt spiritually dry and desolate. I had stopped going to church regularly, wasn’t reading my Bible, wasn’t hanging out with spiritual people, wasn’t doing anything to feed my spirit. Then, one night, I had a dream.

In my dream, Jesus was standing about twenty feet away from me, and was gesturing for me to come stand by him. I said, “Where have you been? I’ve been so lonely.”

Jesus replied, “I’ve been here all along. Where have you been?”

In this passage, God calls Israel to return to God. And, like me during that semester in college, the people probably think it’s God who has abandoned them, not the other way around. They ask, “How can we return?” They don’t understand that God never changes. God hasn’t moved. They have.

In the context of the times, paying their tithes was one of the simplest things people could do to show their seriousness about getting back in alignment with God. They knew exactly how much the tithes were, and they knew when and where to pay them. God promised them that if they did this one small thing — if they would return to God in this one small area of their lives — then God would pour out blessings on them. They thought God had abandoned them, but if they would simply return, then they would find that God had been there all the time.

Thought for the day: Are you feeling far from God? What can you do to return to God? God hasn’t moved.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Julie Benson):

He’s making a list and checking it twice,
Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice…

We’re already hearing Christmas songs in the stores and this passage reminds me of that Christmas classic, but we’re not singing about a jolly old fat guy in a red suit here. This is the “Big G” who has a much more eternal — and potentially damning — list. So why not use this passage to develop a good self-help list?!

Like a sweet Christmas carol, I linger on the text: scroll of remembrance. I’m sure it’s safe to assume that if God has any list of people worth remembering, then I must be on it. After all, the scripture says this list includes those who fear God. I fear fire and brimstone, wrath, judgment, and an eternity absent from my Creator.

This list also includes those who honor God. Let’s see, I pray and worship and read my Bible and sing pretty songs about Jesus just about everyday.

Finally, the chapter ends not with just a flimsy contrast of the terms righteous and wicked, but specifically defines those terms as those who serve God and those who do not. Well, then I’ve got it made! I work 70 hours a week in my job, serve in five church ministries, give a ride to church to three people across town, and write more Be Still devotionals than anyone else!

Under this formula, then, I think I’ve made a fair assessment that I will make it on the “nice” list!

We have become a society bursting at the seams with self-help books, finding three-easy-step formulas for everything from losing weight to getting a date, from get-rich schemes to finding the key to happiness. It’s only natural then, that we would read the Bible the same way.

I think it’s too easy to reduce the qualifications for pleasing God into a concise formula. This gives us a sense of control in how to respond to God so we can say the right words and jump through the right hoops. In his book Searching For God Knows What, Donald Miller declares, “This method of interaction seems odd to me, because if I want to hang out with my friend Tuck, I don’t stomp my foot three times, turn around, and say his name over and over like a mantra, lighting candles, and getting myself in a certain mood. I just call him.”

God wants the same from us: the authentic you in an authentic relationship. The self-help formulas we conjure up don’t quite measure up. Instead, we can approach the text as an invitation to relationship. Fear God because God is mighty and mysterious. Honor God because of the great sacrifice that was made for you through Jesus Christ and for being showered with grace, love, and abundance. Serve God as a natural response to the overflowing joy and thankfulness in your heart.

Thought for the day: Don’t reduce God to a simple formula. Engage in a true, meaningful relationship today.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Brent Walsh):

Is God offended when we question or doubt?

Isn’t it normal to wonder why it seems that people with no conscience “get away with” so much more than we do? Isn’t it okay to feel shortchanged when we work so hard to please God and have no end to struggle, yet people who shake their fists in God’s face seem to live on easy street? Does God expect us to never wonder about things that don’t make sense to us? Of course not. And I don’t think this is the point of the passage.

In previous verses we see that God was almost challenging the people to test the blessings brought about by trusting God with tithes and offerings. By not doing this, we rob God — and we miss out on the blessings we could be receiving. This is not to say that if we tithe, suddenly all our debts will be paid and we will be free to buy that new bass boat! It just means that when we trust God with the things that mean the most to us (like our money), it opens doors to blessings we would not otherwise receive.

The people of Israel, however, had become complacent. They were growing weary of doing the right thing.

Have you ever been hurt by a spouse saying in frustration, “There’s no point trying to make you happy! It’s hopeless!” Maybe it seems that way sometimes, but if they really want to make you happy, they won’t give up trying. The people of Israel were frustrated, and maybe they were looking for an excuse not to have to be held accountable anymore.

So they try to get out of it by saying, “It is futile to serve God.” I think that hurts God’s feelings. The questions and doubt don’t offend God, but rather the unwillingness does — unwillingness to keep trying to do the right thing, to keep trying to understand.

Thought for the day: Don’t give up doing the right thing. Keep trying, and you will no doubt reap the blessings that God wants you to have!

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Kristin Lee):

I’ve painted a type of altar on my bedroom wall. I taped off an odd shaped area and painted it red, and in white I painted Bible verses, quotes, and song lyrics. I’ve invited some close friends to add to it, and one such friend painted a quote from Gandhi, which I’ll paraphrase: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

I look at this quote often. It spurs me into action when I feel myself stagnant with the types of questions spoken about in the beginning of today’s scripture. “Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God in our suffering world?”

Today’s scripture encourages us to not point the finger at others (including God) and ask why something isn’t being done to end suffering. Today’s scripture reminds us that when we point at others, there are three fingers pointing back at us. Better questions to ask include: Why don’t we do more to help others? Why don’t we use the time we waste accusing others to pray for healing — or to do something even more concrete?

We should become the change we desire in other so we can help lead the way — just like Jesus did for us.  We should let God act through us. God is waiting on us, even as we question where God is.

Thought for the day: What change do I want in others that I need to address in myself?

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.