First Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Devotional: Malachi 2:1-16

Today’s passage: Malachi 2:1-16

Helpful thoughts:

  • A great description of spiritual leadership can be found in verses 5-7, given concerning Levi, which was to have been carried on by the Levitical priests.  God rebukes them for their faithlessness to Him and partiality toward people.
  • The second and third rebukes in this passage deal with marriage and divorce.
    • The people of God had married worshipers of false gods (Verses 10-12).
    • The people of God often sought divorce.  The men would not love their wives and became faithless (Verses 13-16).

Questions to consider:

  1. What do we learn in verses 5-7 concerning spiritual leaders?  It they are truly serving as messengers of the Lord today, what will they communicate (2 Timothy 4:1-2)?
  2. God calls Himself “the Lord of Hosts” often in this book.  This name of God refers to His command over the angel armies, who have never and will never be defeated.  Why do you think God would want to continually emphasize this truth to the people along with these rebukes?
  3. In what way does divorce and marriage with unbelievers go against the picture of the covenant relationship that God has with His people, which marriage is supposed to represent? (Ephesians 5:25-33)  What has Christ committed to do for His bride?  How can husbands (and wives) display this kind of love in their marriage?

Devotional: Malachi 1

Today’s passage: Malachi 1

Helpful thoughts:

  • Malachi lived and ministered at the same time as Ezra and Nehemiah.
  • God’s “love” for Israel and “hate” for Edom is used as a term of choice or election, not affection.
    • Israel wondered why the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile happened and they doubted God’s love for them.  In this passage, God affirms his election of Israel over other nations.
  • God is a great king and His name will be great among the nations!
    • The ability or inability of a person to acknowledge that doesn’t make it more or less true.
    • When we do acknowledge God’s greatness, it changes how we live.

Questions to consider:

  1. What was the state of any person without the love of God (Ephesians 2:1)?  Why does God deserve all the glory in that any of us are “loved?” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
  2. What was the specific rebuke God gave to the priests who dishonored Him?  Why was that worth pointing out?  What did it communicate concerning the priests relationship with and reverence for God?
  3. If the priests had revered the Lord appropriately, how would that have changed their practice?  What kind of sacrifices would they bring?  How can this help you to fight against sin and pursue righteousness to the glory of God?  Why should we do that?

Devotional: Zephaniah 3

Today’s passage: Zephaniah 3

Helpful thoughts:

  • Verses 1-7 are talking about Jerusalem.  This description is shocking.
  • Even when His people act corruptly, God always remains righteous and just (Verse 5).
  • Verses 14-15 are talking about Jerusalem.  After reading the first 7 verses, these final 7 verses could be just as shocking!

Questions to consider:

  1. What will be the reason things are made right in the end (Verse 9)?  Who is going to bring about the perfect kingdom?
  2. How are the people described in verses 9-13?  What characteristics stick out the most to you and why?  What does it mean to be humble and lowly?  What will it be like to live with no fear?  How can God’s grace enable us to pursue those attributes even now?
  3. If Jerusalem is/was what verses 1-7 say they were/are, then what has to happen to allow for verses 14-20 to happen?  How will God populate this city with people who praise His name (Ezekiel 36:22-28)?  How is God’s glorious grace being put on display?

Devotional: Zephaniah 2

Today’s passage: Zephaniah 2

Helpful thoughts:

  • Even in a prophecy of judgment, an offer of mercy is given to those who repent.
  • The evidence of repentance is seeking.  Seek the Lord, seek righteousness, seek humility.
    • We do not seek our own protection and rescue.  God is our protection and rescue.  Seek Him.
  • Every knee (All people from every nation) will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Verse 11, Philippians 2:9-11).  No person, no power, no country, no league of nations will ever be able to defeat God.

Questions to consider:

  1. What is God promising for those who reject Him from the nations in this passage?  What is He promising for His people?
  2. What is the purpose of the phrase, “As I live” at the beginning of verse 9?  God doesn’t need to make a vow to do what He says He will do, but why is this phrase so powerful?
  3. What do we learn about God in this passage?  How will He show His justice?  How will He show His grace?  How can a person find refuge in Him?

Devotional: Zephaniah 1

Today’s passage: Zephaniah 1

Helpful thoughts:

  • Zephaniah’s prophecy concerning the “Day of the Lord” took place during the reign of Josiah in Jerusalem.
    • It looks like Zephaniah was also part of the royal family, having descended from Hezekiah.
  • Baal was the Canaanite storm god.  Milcom was the god of the Ammonites.  The “hosts of the heavens” refers to the worship of the stars.  The people of Judah had rejected God and were worshiping the gods of their surrounding pagan neighbors.
  • God will judge the entire world when it is the right time.  The right time is determined by Him and not by His creation (Verse 12).

Questions to consider:

  1. Why do you think people can become complacent?  How do we often view time and the latest news or personal crises?  How does God view these things?  Why might we question His ability to act in the right time?
  2. What is the stark warning of verse 18?  What are the true riches of life?
  3. What is the right response to God’s warning of coming judgment?  What must we do to be saved (Acts 16:25-34)?

Devotional: Habakkuk 3

Today’s passage: Habakkuk 3

Helpful thoughts:

  • Today we read Habakkuk’s prayerful response to the Lord’s answer, written as a psalm.
  • In verses 3-15, Habakkuk recounts the works of the Lord during the time of the Exodus.
  • Knowing that Babylon would be coming to destroy Jerusalem, Habakkuk committed to put his trust in the Lord and His sovereign plan.
    • Jerusalem was never Habakkuk’s strength.  God was (is) his strength.

Questions to consider:

  1. What parts of the exodus journey (From the departure from Egypt to entering the Promised Land) can you find in verses 3-15?  Why would these acts of God bring hope and consolation to Habakkuk?
  2. What was Habakkuk’s posture toward God in the beginning of this book?  What is it at the end?
  3. Why is it so important to see that Habakkuk’s perspective shifted and not his circumstances?  Jerusalem was still about to be destroyed and Habakkuk’s body trembled at the thought of it.  Yet, he was able to rejoice, why?  What can we learn from this short book that can be applied to our lives today?

Devotional: Habakkuk 2:6-20

Today’s passage: Habakkuk 2:6-20

Helpful thoughts:

  • Today, we read the rest of God’s response to Habakkuk’s appeal.
  • The sins of Babylon against the nations (Not just Israel, but all of the peoples who were subjugated), would come back around on their own head.
  • When mankind bows down to idols, they become just like them (Spiritually blind, deaf, dead).  (Psalm 115:2-8)

Questions to consider:

  1. Was God only concerned with what Babylon would do against Judah or are all the nations under His watch?  What does this remind us of concerning God’s heart for the nations (Revelation 7:9)?
  2. What is true of every other god in the world (Verses 18-20)?  What is true of every human being before God?  Is there anyone who will not answer to Him (Whether they believe in Him or not)?
  3. What then is the right response and action for citizens of the Kingdom of God in the midst of this earth (Habakkuk 2:1-2, Matthew 28:18-20)?

Devotional: Habakkuk 1:12-2:5

Today’s passage: Habakkuk 1:12-2:5

Helpful thoughts:

  • Habakkuk files his complaint against God’s plan.  He makes his appeal based on the fact that God is eternally all-knowing and just.  He cannot understand why/how God could use a sinful people like Babylon to judge a sinful Judah.
  • The prophet asks God for an answer and commits to be ready to take it to the people when it comes (Verses 1-2).
  • God’s answer stretches from verse 2 through verse 20.
    • The beginning of the response in verses 2-5 emphasizes the pride of the Babylonians king(s).
    • God will not turn a blind eye to those who are puffed up with pride.  Babylon will have their day of judgment as well.  And the righteous shall live by faith.

Questions to consider:

  1. How can our understanding of the providence and sovereignty of God expand after reading a passage like this?  Can God use people who are not submitted to Him to bring about His ends?  Can God judge people who go about sinning while they are accomplishing God’s greater purpose?  Could any person keep all of that straight in their mind?
  2. What is the main contrast in verse 4?  What does the Babylonian king live by (Who was he counting on)?  What does the righteous live by (Whom do the righteous count on)?
  3. How does the use of Habakkuk 2:4 in Romans 1:17 shed light on the meaning of both passages?  If a person is puffed up by his ability to earn his own righteousness, what is he failing to understand?  Whom do we count on for our righteousness?

Devotional: Habakkuk 1:1-11

Today’s passage: Habakkuk 1:1-11

Helpful thoughts:

  • This book was written by the prophet Habakkuk, most likely no later than 640-609 B.C.
    • In the book, the prophet laments the decline of Judah’s commitment to the Lord and God’s responses.  It is more of a “conversation” between the Lord and Habakkuk than a “Thus says the Lord” kind of prophecy.
  • The sad things asked about in verses 2-4 are not about any other nation.  This was the condition of Judah.
  • God’s answer to Judah’s sin is to raise up Babylon against them.  Babylon is not more righteous than Judah, and Habakkuk will protest, asking about the justice of this decision in the next passage.

Questions to consider:

  1. How is Babylon described in verses 5-11.  Why would it seem to make sense for Habakkuk to dislike the idea of Babylon being used by God to judge Judah?
  2. Who was the god of the Babylonians according to verse 11?  Even though the Babylonians had false gods they worshiped, what is God acknowledging about the people?  Whom were they truly trusting in?  What would we expect God to do if man trusts in himself? (Would Babylon last forever? – Daniel 5:13-31)
  3. What do you think Habakkuk would have wanted God to say in response to His lament?  When we do wrong, why do we struggle with not being able to choose the consequences?  How can this struggle even relate to the necessity of believing in Christ’s sacrificial/substitutionary death on the cross?