Daily Devotional

Malachi 1:13b-14

“And you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick;
Thus you bring an offering!Should I accept this from your hand?’ says the LORD.”“But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a male, and takes a vow, butSacrifices to the Lord what is blemished –For I am a great King,”Says the LORD of hosts,“And My name is to be feared among the nations.”

A little background: Numbers 6:14 describes the type of sacrificial offering the children of Israel were to bring to the Lord… “He shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering and one ewe-lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering and one ram without defect for a peace offering”

The Lord wanted the best of what they had…

This passage from Malachi reminds me of when the Lord gave manna to the children of Israel while they were in the wilderness. It was left on the ground in the morning after the dew lifted and it only lasted for the day. If they tried to make it last until the next morning it had worms in it and stank (except for the Sabbath day) (Exodus 16).  God wants to feed us every day. He wants us to come to Him each and every day and be fed from HIS food, the Bread of Life, His Word.

Another passage it reminds me of is when the Lord tells the Church of Ephesus in Rev. 2:4 “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”  As our state is “opening up,” I am realizing I am running at a faster pace. I find myself trying to “get done” so I can “go onto the next thing.”

A couple of things the Lord impressed upon me through these passages…

My mind is clearest in the morning so I know, for me, the morning is my best time to meet Him in His Word. A friend of mine once said, “You wouldn’t usually go a whole day without eating your physical food…Why do you think its good to go a whole day without eating your spiritual food.” So whatever time during the day that you spend with Him, know that He wants to meet with you daily. And while I am spending that time with Him, I need to be still and listen. He wants my best, my undivided attention, my first love.  
New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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