November 21, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

God Rewards His Children

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord, please help us to understand Your way of rewarding Your people for their faithfulness, then help us be faithful.

Read Malachi 3:6-18

For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.

[6] “I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. [7] Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ [8] “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. [9] You are under a curse-your whole nation-because you are robbing me. [10] Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. [11] I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. [12] “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. [13] “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ [14] “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? [15] But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.'” [16] Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. [17] “On the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. [18] And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

The first missionary to Myanmar, Adoniram Judson, once said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.”

Some believers argue that we should not serve God motivated by rewards because this would be selfish. Others respond that if God is gracious enough to reward us, we should be humble enough to receive these blessings with grateful hearts. In our study for today, the prophet addresses a serious concern about rewards. The people thought that God had forgotten their faithful works; consequently, they believed God might also forget their rewards. But the prophet assures them that God our righteous King is so wise and just that he will not forget a single detail of our good deeds (6). We should not say, as do some of those in our passage, “It is futile to serve God” (14). In the kingly imagery of the passage, God records our good deeds in a royal memorandum sealed in the King’s archive for his future reference (16).

We may feel cheated in this life. We go to church, work hard, and try to do what is right. Still, there lurks within us a nagging feeling that we are being short-changed on God’s blessings. Others who are disobedient seem to receive more blessings than we do. This passage calls us to look ahead to a future day when the King of the Universe will demonstrate perfect justice in rewarding us. All will be fair. No corruption will taint the outcome.

God promises to reward our good deeds. We may not fully comprehend God’s complex system of rewards. But we know enough to understand whether or not we are on the right track on our service for him. For now, the righteous may suffer and those who disobey God may seem to prosper. But the real question is, are we satisfied that our treasure in heaven awaits us? Do we trust God to keep that which we have committed to him until that day?

Apply

Think of ways to serve the Lord today, do them, and ask God for confidence that he will remember your faithful deeds. He promised he would.

Closing prayer

Father, help us to understand Your mysterious system of rewards well enough to move forward in confidence and serve You better.

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