In the midst of trial and difficulty, when you are being unjustly treated, when your name is being trashed, or when you feel abandoned and forsaken… what is our comfort?

When we speak of God being Just, there always is the expectation of either condemnation/wrath for the one guilty of sin or their forgiveness/purification. A just God could do nothing else or less!

All of this brings us to the ultimate problem of the people of God in Malachi's day. It wasn't that God was a liar… or that He wasn't just. That was the felt-problem. It is that God's people read the promises of God and mistakenly expected them to be fulfilled in their lifetime!

The Clear Warning: If any man/leader compromises the worship of God, Malachi prays that the Lord would cut them off- either through deposition, excommunication, or death (cf. also 1 Cor. 3:16-17). Paul said much the same in 1 Cor. 3:16-17!

The ministers of the word of God "turned aside from the way." This means that they started advancing their own agenda rather than the word of God.

Watch over your heart! When ministers of the Word of God use the Bible to advance their own or another's agenda, they will ultimately lead the people of God astray!

2 Corinthians 4-7-15--God's power and wisdom is displayed in the midst of our weaknesses.

2 Corinthians 4:7-15God's power and wisdom is displayed in the midst of our weaknesses.

20 But God said to him, 'Fool- This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be--' 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.-