Daily Devotions

Malachi

Malachi 
Day 
Day 36

"For I am the LORD, I do not change."

Text: Malachi 3:6

NO CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD

There was little if any positive consciousness of God in the life of Israel in the days of Malachi.

“‘For I am the LORD, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,’
Says the LORD of hosts.
‘But you said,
“In what way shall we return?”‘”
Malachi 3:6-7

1. “For I am the LORD, I do not change”

a) This was a vital truth that Israel had failed to appreciate.
b) God was their LORD by way of the Covenant given to Israel.
c) He continued to regard Israel as His own people.

2. “Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob”

a) They were behaving badly as Jacob did before he came to believe in God.
b) Thus, they were addressed as “sons of Jacob”.
c) Yet, they were not consumed, despite their sins.
The reason was because God was their faithful, merciful and unchanging LORD.

3. Admonition to return to God

a) History of Israel
i) Israel had gone away from God’s ordinances.
ii) From the days of their forefathers they had not kept His law.
b) A gracious invitation was given to return to the LORD their God.

4. Retort of the sinful returnees

a) They questioned what God meant about returning to Him.
b) They probably felt that they were doing fine by their own standards of religion.