Readings for today: Malachi 3-4, Psalms 64
As I write, there are several wildfires burning in my part of the country. They threaten homes and other buildings. Tragically, there is at least one person who lost their life. This isn’t uncommon for us. In the heat of summer, the fire danger rises. Hundreds of thousands of acres have burned over the last twenty or so years. Their names are etched in our memories. Hayman. Pine Gulch. Cameron Peak. Waldo Canyon. Marshall. The list goes on. Fire can be devastating and destructive. However, it can also be cleansing and purifying. Some of those fires have been fueled by brush and deadwood that has built up over decades. It creates unhealthy and dangerous conditions in our forest systems that lead to larger and more uncontrollable burns once they start. Fire is a necessary part of the cycle of renewal because of how it clears out the old to usher in the new.
Perhaps this is why the prophet Malachi picks up on this image in our reading today. “For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Armies, “not leaving them root or branches. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall. You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the Lord of Armies.” (Malachi 4:1-3 CSB) God looks down on the earth and can see the wickedness of humanity stacking up over the centuries. He sees the injustice. He sees the oppression. He sees the greed. He sees the selfishness. He sees the lust for power. He sees the deceit and violence and hatred. He sees all of it and He knows humanity must be cleansed and purified in order for righteousness to spring up. So He likens His coming to that of a cleansing fire that burns throughout the earth, consuming the wicked. But those who fear the Lord will find refuge from the flames and healing underneath His wings. We will go out in the wake of the fire to renew the land and reign in righteousness over all God has made.
So what then does it mean to be righteous? It means worshipping God in the way He deserves and demands. God doesn’t grade on a curve. He will never be satisfied with leftovers. Never be content to take second place. He will not allow us to take Him for granted or treat Him with disdain. God is a refining fire. A purifying fire. A cleansing fire. Malachi testifies to the fact that when the great Day of the Lord comes and Jesus returns in all His glory, all that is evil and arrogant and corrupt in this world will be burned by fire. All that is sinful and impure and ungodly in our lives will be set ablaze. The gold will be refined. The silver purified. Only that which is of the Lord will endure. It’s a sobering vision. One that should challenge and convict us as it did the people of Israel. We who have been saved by Jesus Christ have seen His glory. The glory of the One and Only Son come from the Father. As such, more is demanded from us. More is expected from us. It doesn’t matter what’s happening in the world around us. It doesn’t matter how difficult life’s circumstance may be. It doesn’t matter what barriers may exist or what trials we have to endure. God wants our heart. God wants our full devotion. He will never rest until He has the highest place in our lives.
Readings for tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 1-10, Psalms 65