Malachi 3 Devotional

Spared by an Unchanging God

““Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.”Malachi 3:6 (BSB)

The people have asked where the God of justice is (2:17), and Malachi 3 answers. God will send his messenger to prepare the way, and then the Lord they are seeking will suddenly come to his temple (3:1). Mark begins his gospel with this promise, applying it to John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus (Mark 1:2-4). But his coming will be searching, like a refiner's fire and a launderer's soap, purifying the priests like silver (3:2-3).

Then comes the reason any of them are still standing. Because the LORD does not change, the descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed (3:6). Their faithfulness had failed for generations, but his had not. So he still invites them to return to him, promising to return to them (3:7), and to trust him with their tithes (3:10). When some who feared him spoke together, he listened, and a scroll of remembrance was written (3:16). Your hope does not rest on your own steadiness. It rests on a God whose purposes never shift.

To think about: Where have you been resting your hope on your own consistency instead of on God's unchanging faithfulness?