Being harsh to God

Your words have been harsh against Me," Says the LORD, Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?' You have said, 'It is useless to serve God; What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the LORD of hosts? – Malachi 3v13-14

‘You have spoken harsh words against Me’ God said. ‘How have we done that?’ asked the people. ‘Because you have said ‘it is useless to serve God. What profit is there in serving God and we still have cause to mourn?’

These folks were feeling sorry for themselves. It seems like they felt that serving God should somehow ensure and easier life or some kind of benefit for themselves. You can almost sense a whiney voice when they say ‘Serving God is a waste. We do everything He wants and we get nothing out of it. We still shed tears even though we do it right.’

They were missing a key point. Life is tough. Life is not fair. ‘Life is pain… Anyone who says differently is selling something.’ Bad things happen to good people. God’s people get sick. God’s people die. God’s people have disappointments. That is just the way it is. Being a child of God does not mean we are going to escape pain and suffering.

This convoluted thinking is wrong. God calls these words ‘harsh words against Him.’ It comes from a messed up idea that our faith and our relationship to God is about us. We think that our getting saved or acting religious earns us some kind of hard time exemption.

That is harsh after all God has done for us. That is harsh considering that though we go through the tough times He has promised to be there with us. Let’s be careful about our harsh words and thoughts. How can we be harsh to the One who died for us?