Daily Devotional
"But you say, 'What a weariness this is,' and you snort at it, says the LORD of hosts. You bring what has been taken by violence or is lame or sick, and this you bring as your offering! Shall I accept that from your hand? says the LORD."
Malachi 1:13
By verses 12 and 13, the rebuke has shifted from behavior to attitude. Earlier, God confronted the priests on what they were doing. Now he confronts them on what they are feeling and saying while they do it. They have been at this long enough that they have grown comfortable with their compromise. The polluted offerings no longer bother them. The table of the Lord feels like a burden. They snort at the whole enterprise. This is what happens when sin goes unchecked and unrepented of: it does not simply stay where it is. It multiplies and hardens.
Peter Adam’s commentary observation is worth sitting with: here we see sin that breeds sin, and sin that breeds worse sin. They began by accepting worthless sacrifices. That led to despising the altar itself. If the sacrifices are worthless, the reasoning goes, the table must be worthless too. And a worthless table means a worthless God. What started as negligence has curdled into contempt. The attitude of weariness is the fruit of a heart that has been slowly shrinking away from God for a long time.
For believers today, this is a warning against letting spiritual dryness become spiritual bitterness. There are seasons when prayer feels empty and Scripture feels distant. Those seasons are normal, and they are not automatically sinful. But when we respond to dryness by reducing our investment rather than pressing harder into God, we put ourselves on the same downward spiral as these priests. The antidote is not to feel more before we act. It is to act faithfully even when we do not feel much, trusting that God uses the practice of obedience to renew the affections.
Today's Challenge
Can you identify a moment in your spiritual life when what began as a minor compromise gradually became a settled attitude of indifference? What did that progression look like, and what would you say to your past self at the beginning of it?
Prayer
Lord, I confess that there are times when I approach the duties of faith with more weariness than worship. Forgive me for the ways I have snorted at your table rather than marveling at it. Remind me what it cost you to invite me there at all. Restore the joy of your salvation in me, and do not let me settle for a faith that has become merely habitual. In Jesus' name, Amen.
