December 10, 2014

Malachi 3:1-6

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. 6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Have you ever seen metal purified? Lots and lots of heat is needed, to melt the ore to liquid ooze. In this molten state, the impurities rise to the surface, so they can be scraped away and removed before the liquid cools and hardens once again. Such a great picture of the way God often works in our lives. He allows the heat to be turned up- through trials, pain and challenges, and our impurities tend to pop right to the surface. Impatience, anger, self-pity, rebellion, to name a few. And the best time to address those? While the temperature is still hot, before things cool down and harden in place. Even though we want the pain to pass as quickly as possible, God has a larger purpose in mind- purity and wholeness. This is the way of our King.

What “impurities” is God bringing to the surface of your life these days? How can you bring these before Jesus for His help and healing?

For Families:

Talk about this picture of metal heating up. What are ways you notice God working in your life when things get “hot”?