Malachi the prophet began
his prophecy by telling the people of Israel the Lord loved them, and
even though Israel doubted His love, God reminded them that He chose
Jacob over Esau who was called Edom. Edom was to be destroyed, and
although the Edomites believed they could rebuild anything that was
torn down, the Lord would wipe out any efforts they made. In chapter
one and verse five of Malachi's prophecy, the Lord told the
Israelites they would see these things come to pass and would magnify
Him because of it. We read:
And your eyes shall
see, and you shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of
Israel.
The
verse begins, “And your eyes shall see,...” There is
something special about being able to “see” something come
to pass that has been promised. As a continuum to the Lord's promise
that Edom would be destroyed, God assures the people of Israel their
“eyes shall see” what He was going to do to them. Once
again, the Lord uses this example to demonstrate how much He loved
Israel.
The
verse goes on to say, “and you shall say, The LORD will
be magnified from the border of Israel.” When
the people of Israel saw the promises of the Lord fulfilled, their
reaction would be, “The LORD will be magnified”
or “to grow, become great or important, promote, make
powerful, praise, magnify, do great things”. This expansion of the
Lord within the minds of the people of Israel would be “from the
border of Israel” which means “throughout all the land or to
the boarders of Israel”. The seeing of the destruction of Edom
would cause magnification of the Lord and belief in His love
throughout all the land of Israel.
There are times in our lives
when the Lord will allow us to see the manifestation of His love just
as He did Israel. Other times it seems that His demonstrations are
limited. In those times of “darkness” we may rely upon the Holy
Spirit of God to give us the strength to live through them. The
Israelites were going to magnify the Lord throughout all their land
when their “eyes” would see the destruction of Edom. As we
ponder these words, perhaps the Lord will allow us to see some
demonstrations of His love for us and we will magnify His name for
them, however, the greater question may be, “will we be able to
give Him praise and adoration and believe that He loves us even when
our eyes do not see”?
Next
time we will see further proof of God's love for Israel,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
No comments:
Post a Comment