When we're overwhelmed and sad over the state of our world, what should we do?

Hey, this is Shuri at Bible Project. In this episode, we're in the book of Malachi to remember what God does to encourage those who trust in Him.

When everything around us is a mess, who doesn't need a reminder like this? Let's reflect together. Listen in.

Hey everybody, this is Timaki at Bible Project. And for this week's reflection, we are considering the final words of the last book of the Hebrew prophets, Malachi.

We are here at the conclusion of the prophetic books, and there's this fascinating meditation on what it means to sustain hope when I feel powerless and sad about all the violence and division I see around me.

We don't know exactly when Malachi lived, or if that was even the prophet's name, the Hebrew word Malachi means my messenger.

And so it's possible that this wasn't the prophet's name, but a title. In fact, my messenger is the common description of prophets all throughout the Hebrew Bible because they spoke to Israel on God's behalf.

But whatever the time or the name of this prophet is clear that he lived after the return of some Israelites after the Babylonian exile.

The second temple has already been rebuilt and things are not going good to say the least. And so this prophet criticizes Israel and their priestly leaders as corrupt and rebellious, and once again violating the terms of their covenant with God.

It's like Israel's defeat and exile in return hasn't changed the people much at all.

And so throughout the short book, the prophet depicts God into dispute with Israel. He tells them that he loves them and calls them to account for their idolatry and their injustice, their neglect of the temple and worship.

The picture we get of God's people doesn't sound very different from the prophets who lived before the exile.

Israel's worship of Yahweh was supposed to be this celebration of abundance and giving back to Yahweh and then sharing with the poor, but none of this was happening.

The people had a scarcity mindset, this fear that there wasn't enough. And so what they feared, a lack of resources, is what they were creating by not sharing with God and with others.

It became this downward spiral of scarcity and fear. How can this kind of people become God's kingdom of priests to the nations?

And so the prophet ponders, maybe all of the people won't become the royal priests. God called Israel to be.

Maybe this is another time when God is singling out a faithful remnant, like Noah in the generation of the flood, or like Abraham among the people of Babylon, like Joshua and Caleb among the generation in the wilderness.

In each of these stories, humans had taken God's many gifts for granted, they used them and abused them and descended into selfishness and violence.

And so God finds a faithful few who will surrender and trust themselves to the will of God. He'll deliver them out the other side to a new time of blessing and abundance.

This is what the final paragraphs of Malachi are about.

In chapter three, we learned about this group of Israelites who were called those who fear Yahweh and consider his name.

And God calls them my treasured possession. The Hebrew word is Sagula and it was used first to describe the Israelites back at the foot of Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus when he called them to be a kingdom of priests to the nations.

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