The Last Word

We all like to get it.  So maybe Malachi was a happy guy.  Or maybe he was completely unaware that the message he conveyed to Israel contained the last words God would speak to His people for more than four-hundred years.  There were a couple of clues:  "See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me… I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes." (Mal 3:1 & 4:5)  But I doubt anyone could have anticipated just what it would be like for God to go silent for four centuries.

I've often wondered what Israel's spiritual life was like as those years rolled by.  Did anyone give the lack of a word from the Lord a second thought?  Did the culture simply roll slowly downhill toward a society where God was no longer missed?  It seems there were a few watching and waiting (Simeon & Anna in Luke 2, for example), but did people in general simply get used to not hearing from God?

If so, how sad!  I have seen the slow slide at times in my life when I've neglected God's Word.  I've even seen it some this year when I got so busy that I didn't stay plugged into the Minor Prophets as deeply as I planned.  And if my spiritual walk can slip that easily when, in general, I do spend a good amount of time in God's Word, imagine what it would be like to go a whole lifetime… a whole generation… several generations… with no word from the Lord!

I'm not much on New Year's resolutions.  I know myself too well!  But wrapping up the Minor Prophet of the Month Club staring into the 400 Silent Years, I'm motivated to come up with a similar project for myself in 2013.  I'm not sure exactly what it will be yet… I do have 8 hours until January 1!  But I do know this… I don't want God to be silent in my life!  I have His Word, and I'm going to read it, meditate on it, pray about it and try to live it.  How about you?