The Warning of the Prophet Malachi

Before the prophet Malachi began his ministry, the people of Israel had returned from exile and rebuilt the temple. Yet a hundred years passed without the glory they had hoped for, and they began to doubt God. They held back their tithes and offerings, the priests fell into corruption along with them, and divorce and marriage to foreign women went on.

A God who did not give them plenty was no longer their king, so they mocked him without fear. Yet the judgment that followed was no sudden whim on God’s part. It was the fulfillment of the word he had spoken long before through Jeremiah as a warning. The story of Jacob and Esau is no different. Esau thought so little of grace that he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew, and in doing so he threw away the blessing himself.

God always gives warning before he judges. His warning is given not to rebuke but out of a love that seeks to restore. Those who stop complaining that their present circumstances are not prosperous, who receive even hardship as God’s love, and who repent and give thanks, will find that very place turned into a place of blessing.