Malachi 4
1. "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud,
yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn
them up,'' says the Lord of hosts, "that will leave them neither root nor branch.
2. But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing
in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.
NKJV
The Apostle Paul tells us that the vital day of evaluation will show the motivation
for our lives and uncover the pride and wickedness in us publicly, according to I Corinthians 3: 10 - 15.
But God is aiming to root these things out of us now, in our lifetime, so that
we can receive our reward with gladness on that day. That's because if our present
evaluation reveals that we refuse to give up our pride or wickedness, we will be left without root or branch.
What does that mean, you ask?
If we see a plant or tree with no root, that means it has no place to be in the soil:
it will not survive outside of the soil. Translated into human terms, when I have
no root in my life, I have no place to belong and feel that I fit nowhere.
Having no branch in human terms means that my life is going nowhere.
There are many people in the world today who feel this way: that they belong nowhere
and are going nowhere. They are always searching for a place to belong and a purpose for living.
When we find ourselves in this position, our first response is to become very defensive
and proclaim that there is neither pride nor wickedness within us.
Instead of becoming defensive, we need to read verse 2 of Malachi 4.
"But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in
His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves."
NKJV
Because you have put your trust in the Lord, His promise is that the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the Sun of Righteousness, wants to bring healing into our lives,
so that we will "go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture."
LB
Prayer:
Father, I feel like I don't belong anywhere, and I that my life is going nowhere.
But today I put my trust in You, Lord.
Thank You that You have made provision for me to belong and to fit in the place of Your choosing.
Thank You that You have a purpose for my living at this time.
Lord Jesus, come and spread Your healing all through my life so that I can become
rooted in the place of Your choosing and begin living purposefully for You,
in Jesus' name,
Amen.
