Malachi 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you… Well, there can be no doubt that man will do some very daring deeds. What magnificent things he is capable of l He may not be much to look at, he may not fill a large space in the landscape; but out of his heart and soul what deeds of heroism may come! what feats of daring! — achievements that thrill the whole world and move the heart of heaven! It is a precious heritage that we have in human biography. Man, however, does not always employ his daring soul in the right way. What is the most daring thing ever done? Why, surely it is here — in that a man will rob God. And it is not true courage that leads him to do that; it is foolhardiness, with emphasis on the first syllable of the word. It is the coward who robs God, for he knows not what he is doing. But let us look at the question in a larger sense, and see how we may be guilty of this terrible crime. All robbery of God proceeds from our failure to acknowledge the one great fact of God's sovereignty. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." "It is He that hath made us: we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture." In theory we acknowledge all this; but how about its practical bearing on our everyday life? Have we a reverent and beautiful sense of God's ownership, leading to the hallowing of all our thoughts, deeds, and possessions? Do we ever talk about having money of our own, forgetting that every mite of it is God's? We even go so far as to say that we "will be master in our own house," forgetting that the house is not ours, and that "One is our Master, even Christ." What we need, then, nowadays is a clearer sense of God's sovereignty. We shall not tread so haughtily and boar ourselves so proudly, we shall not be so careless and irreverent in our lives, when we realise vividly the authority and presence of the Lord of all. What a terrible charge the psalmist brings against certain people! — "God is not in all their thoughts." Unless we are to rob God of His right, He must be in all our thoughts, the great moral Force in all our work and duty, keeping us in fine integrity and honour. In pleasure He must be "the spring of all our joys, the life of our delights," and then we shall take no harm whatever pleasure we engage in. And in sorrow He must be our first and only thought; then "grief and fear and care shall fly as clouds before the midday sun." Will a man rob God? Yes, unless he have the fear of God continually before him. "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes." That is the message of every transgression ever committed. If men had the fear of God before their eyes they would never sin against Him. An article in one of the papers a while ago spoke of "the degeneracy of wills." In the olden time a man began, his will thus: "In the name of God, Amen." But now we begin abruptly: This is the last will and testament. It is not simply that we are short of time, and cannot afford the roundabout phrases of a bygone day; it is that we have not the sense of reverence in the measure that we ought to have it — we do not live with the holy dread and mighty awe of the great old saints. Will a man rob God? Yes, if he withhold his love, gratitude, and obedience from Him. These great affections of the heart were bestowed upon us that they might be given to some worthy object. Are they just to be spent upon a few inferior objects around us, and to be denied to One in whom is all perfect excellence, goodness, and beauty? Does not the love of God to us call loudly for our love in return? Does not all the mercy of the past lay irresistible claim to our fervent gratitude? Does not every precept of God's law require our obedience? If we do not give it, shall we not be robbing with the basest, boldest robbery Him to whom our more than all is due? The man who robs God steals from himself. God needs nothing of ours to make Him any richer; it is simply for our own sakes that He makes the great demand. Give your little all, and the return shall be in full measure, pressed down, and running over. Withhold, and you stand to gain nothing and to lose all. (W. A. L. Taylor, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? |
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