Wearying The Lord

My fellow sheep,

As we continue to study Malachi, we begin to see how our actions affect God. Like any good parent, our Father care deeply for His children. He loves them too much not to correct them when they are wrong. As we sit with a soothing cup of tea this morning, we are going to see how God feels when we call into question His character.

“You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?”
By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.”
Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”

There is a particular kind of tiredness that doesn’t come from work. It comes from listening to the same complaint over and over—especially when the person speaking it doesn’t realize how much it reveals about their heart. Malachi says the people of God had worn the Lord out with their words.

That sounds almost too human for God. Scripture often speaks this way. God is not exhausted the way we are after a long day. But He is not indifferent either. He is provoked, grieved, and, in the language of the prophets, wearied by speech that treats Him as small, late, or morally confused. Isaiah heard the same thing: “You have wearied me with your iniquities” (Isaiah 43:24). Paul later warns us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Our words can land on God.

The people, of course, don’t see it. “How have we wearied him?” they ask. That question is the signature move of Malachi’s book. God speaks. The people protest their innocence. Then God names the thing they have been saying out loud—or at least thinking so loudly it might as well have been spoken.

Two things, He says.

First: “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.”

They looked around post-exile Judah and saw what Psalm 73 saw: the arrogant seemed at ease. Neighboring peoples who didn’t keep covenant appeared to prosper. Some of their own people treated marriage lightly, brought lame offerings, and still seemed to get by. So they drew a conclusion. If God is not stopping this, maybe He actually likes it. Maybe evil is fine with Him. Maybe “good” just means “whatever is working right now.”

That is not a small theological slip. It is a rewriting of God’s character. It takes the Holy One and recasts Him as a smiling spectator of whatever happens to succeed.

Second: “Where is the God of justice?”

This is the other side of the same coin. If God does not delight in evil, then where is He? Why the delay? Why the silence? The question sounds pious. It is actually an accusation dressed as a prayer. It assumes that if God has not acted on our schedule, He has either left the building or stopped caring about right and wrong.

Notice the irony Malachi has already been building. In the verses just before this, the people have been faithless to their wives, treating the covenant of marriage as disposable. They have been unfaithful to one another and to God. Then they look at the world and complain that God is not just. They want a God of justice for everyone else. They are slower to want Him for themselves.

God’s answer does not come in 2:17. It comes in the next breath: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple…” (Malachi 3:1). They asked, “Where is the God of justice?” He replies, “I am coming.” But He will not come only as the avenger they imagined. He will come as a refiner’s fire. He will purify His own people first. The day they wanted will not be comfortable. The God of justice they demanded will start at the house of God.That is still how He works.

We weary Him in the same two ways.We look at a world that rewards the loud, the cruel, the unaccountable, and we start to wonder if God has changed His mind about holiness. Or we grow tired of waiting for wrongs to be made right—in our family, our church, our culture—and we mutter, “Where is He?” The mutter can sound like faith. Often it is just disappointment that God will not be managed.

The gospel does not scold that ache and walk away. It tells us the God of justice did come. He came first not with a sword for our enemies but with a cross for our sins. The delay we resent is often mercy. The silence we interpret as absence is often patience. And the day He appears in fullness will be both the answer to every honest cry for justice and a fire that tests what we have called good.

Until then, He still hears our words. He is not wearied by our grief. He is wearied when our grief hardens into a verdict on His character.

Personal Reflection Questions

1. When you look at people who seem to prosper while doing harm, what story do you quietly tell yourself about God? That He doesn’t mind? That He isn’t paying attention? That He isn’t fair?
2. Is there a place in your life where you are asking, “Where is the God of justice?”—and if so, are you also willing for that same justice to examine you?
3. What words have you been speaking about God lately—out loud or only in your thoughts? Would they sound like trust, or like a weary accusation?
4. Malachi’s people wanted God to act without first being refined. Where might the Lord be inviting you to welcome His purifying work instead of only demanding His intervention?
5. How does the coming of Jesus—first as Savior, then as Judge—change the way you wait for justice today?

My dear ones, God loves us so much that He will not leave us in our sinful ways. He works to refine us into reflecting the character of His Only Son, Jesus. We will begin to see that as we move into chapter 3. For now, know that you are deeply loved by Him.

Your fellow sheep.