Not In Vain

Hello everyone,

How are you doing on this day? I hope well and bubbling in the Lord.

  

Primary Text

“You have spoken arrogantly against Me,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “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? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’” Malachi 3v13-15 (NIV)

Maybe you have gotten to a point and you are thinking thoughts like, does it even pay to serve the Lord? David in Psalm 73 was thinking like that as well. He says “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked … They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men” (Psalm 73v3&5). But then he realized when he went to the sanctuary of God that God put them “on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.” (Psalm 73v18&19, NLT). It is not in vain that we serve God, that we pray, or fast, or give alms… God indeed rewards…

Be encouraged with these words from Psalm 37v1-6 (AMP): “FRET NOT yourself because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness (that which is not upright or in right standing with God). For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; so shall you dwell in the land and feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass. And He will make your uprightness and right standing with God go forth as the light, and your justice and right as [the shining sun of] the noonday.”

Prayer

Father, we thank You so much for Your Word this day. We thank You so much because it is not in vain that we serve You. Father, I pray, please let me always realize the futility in sin, in Jesus name, amen.