Lessons from Malachi (II)

_
One of my guys made an astute observation after reading the book of Malachi that the root of the issue - causing us either withold our best from God, and/or complaining about the burdens of serving Him is found in Malachi 2:17, 3:13-15, when God summed this up by rebuking the Israelites:

You have wearied the LORD with your words.
"How have we wearied him?" you ask.
By saying, "All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them" or "Where is the God of justice?"

"You have said harsh things against me," says the LORD.
"Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?'
"You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.' "

In short, God is saying that His people find it pointless to serve God, since from their observations, God is unfair in "blessing" pagans more than He blesses His own people, and unjust in letting evil-doers go unpunished.

I believe I do the same. It is called "envying the wicked".

Indeed sometimes when I see the happenings around me, when non-Christians seem to prosper and get away with so much, living a seemingly easier and more luxurious life; while we struggle to walk in faithfulness, it does cause me to wonder what God is doing about all these. There are moments too when I doubt the value of trying hard to keep God's laws, since the benefits and rewards of obeying God are often not immediately apparent.

But the bottomline is that God calls this kind of thinking and attitude - sin.

More than ever, I need the Lord's reminder, that it DOES make a difference that we choose to obey and serve Him wholeheartedly, without double-mindedness.

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 honored his name.

"They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. (Malachi 3:16-18)
_