Monday Devotional: December 2, 2024

Bible Reading: Malachi 3:1-4 (NRSVUE)

¹ See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. ² But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap; ³ he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. ⁴ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years.

The people of Malachi’s day, like those of Jesus’ time, eagerly longed for God to come and deliver them from their oppressors. When this happened, God’s presence would once again dwell in the Temple (Isaiah 52:8), the covenant would be consummated (Jeremiah 31:31-33), the kingdom of David restored (Isaiah 9:7; Jeremiah 23:5), and God’s faithful would dwell in peace and prosperity (Ezekiel 34:25-27). Even today, people look for God to intervene and set things right. Into these idyllic visions, Malachi thrusts a disturbing word—God’s coming will not be pleasant and enjoyable; it will be like a refiner’s fire! Even Jesus said he did not come to bring peace but a sword (Matthew 10:34).

Note Isaiah’s experience (Isaiah 6:1-7). As Isaiah encountered God, he also encountered the reality of his own condition: “I saw the Lord, high and lifted up…Woe is me, I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips.” When we experience God’s presence, we also awaken to those aspects of our being that run contrary to the image of God we were created to be. God’s presence becomes a refiner’s fire to burn out the dross and impurities in our being.

Experiencing God as a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29) is not a pleasant or enjoyable experience. The “dross” in our life is so much an integral part of who we understand ourselves to be that it seems as if God is seeking to destroy us. In actuality, however, God is simply seeking to refine us and restore to us our true selves in God’s image. The question is: are we willing to lose our false self in order to be restored to Christlikeness—our true self?

Prayer

Refining Fire, burn out of me all that is contrary to your purposes for my life: all the selfish desires, all the impure motives, all the darkened perspective, all the destructive habits. Restore me to your image. Amen..

By M. Robert Mulholland Jr. The Upper Room Disciplines 2012, page 352.

Advent Bible Study

“On the Way to Bethlehem”
By Rob Fuquay

Session 2: Jerusalem: A Place of Waiting
Bible Readings: Luke 1:5-22

Session Goals

1. Identify our special “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences and connect them to Zechariah’s once-in-a-lifetime encounter with the angel Gabriel.
2. Reflect on our experiences of feeling barren and of waiting on God, and how these experiences might deepen faith and serve God’s larger purposes.
3. Practice keeping silence as an advent discipline.

ZOOM Session

Monday, December 2, 2024, 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm
For Zoom Link, send email to [email protected]

IN-PERSON Session

Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Conference Room, McGee Building