I’m thinking of the place in Malachi 2:17 where it says, “You have wearied the Lord with your words.
‘How have we wearied him?’ you ask.
By saying, ‘All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?’”
There’s a lot of that going on these days. Neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville were “a lot of very good people.” “We can’t help who we love,” say people who want to excuse affairs or any kind of marriage, or no marriage at all. “You can choose your own gender,” claim the ones who want to deny God’s sovereignty over our lives. And in my denomination and my town there are more and more neighbors and friends, many of them Christians, who want us to be tolerant and inclusive of people whose lives repudiate scripture. Universalism, this idea that everyone will go to heaven, is proclaimed by evangelical leaders and embraced by hundreds of thousands.
And whenever another hurricane comes ashore or evil strikes at the hands of demented men and women, we hear again a growing denial of God. How could a God of love allow this? If he exists, people say, then I want no part of him. A famous actor, an atheist, when asked what he would say if God turned out to be real, answered, “I’d look him in the eye and say, ‘Childhood cancer? Really? What kind of God are you?’”
Those words that wearied God in Malachi’s day, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord,” and “Where is the God of Justice?” are heard a lot these days. How long will God be patient?
The good news is that his response to the Jews of Malachi’s time was love and forgiveness, and a call to revival. May revival come to America, and come soon.
By saying, ‘All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?’”
There’s a lot of that going on these days. Neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville were “a lot of very good people.” “We can’t help who we love,” say people who want to excuse affairs or any kind of marriage, or no marriage at all. “You can choose your own gender,” claim the ones who want to deny God’s sovereignty over our lives. And in my denomination and my town there are more and more neighbors and friends, many of them Christians, who want us to be tolerant and inclusive of people whose lives repudiate scripture. Universalism, this idea that everyone will go to heaven, is proclaimed by evangelical leaders and embraced by hundreds of thousands.
And whenever another hurricane comes ashore or evil strikes at the hands of demented men and women, we hear again a growing denial of God. How could a God of love allow this? If he exists, people say, then I want no part of him. A famous actor, an atheist, when asked what he would say if God turned out to be real, answered, “I’d look him in the eye and say, ‘Childhood cancer? Really? What kind of God are you?’”
Those words that wearied God in Malachi’s day, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord,” and “Where is the God of Justice?” are heard a lot these days. How long will God be patient?
The good news is that his response to the Jews of Malachi’s time was love and forgiveness, and a call to revival. May revival come to America, and come soon.
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