Tuesday, Week 2, WI2011
January 11, 2011
Malachi 3:6-12 (New International Version, ©2010)
Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes
6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty.12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.
Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake, Zion,
clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendor,
Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive.
3 For this is what the LORD says:
“You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed.”
4 For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
lately, Assyria has oppressed them.
5 “And now what do I have here?” declares the LORD.
“For my people have been taken away for nothing,
and those who rule them mock,[a]”
declares the LORD.
“And all day long
my name is constantly blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I.”
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”
8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
you who carry the articles of the LORD’s house.
12 But you will not leave in haste
or go in flight;
for the LORD will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. 2 Chronicles 16:9
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We pray with fervency and desperation that the Lord shakes us from our complacency, that we would shake off the dust of our shame and mistrust and disappointment and put on the new garments of righteousness and perseverance. We pray that we would walk according to the riches of the Lord we call upon, and according to the new name by which He calls us. We trust that He is sufficient and fully willing to pour Himself out upon us if only we make room, so we pray that we as a Christian body at UCSD would NOT HOLD BACK anything from the Lord, but would run at Him with abandonment, sacrificing for Him our lives that His storehouse might be full. Would we take God at His word and believe it fully. God, would we LOVE You. All we want is to LOVE YOU like You deserve to be loved. HELP US, GOD. Thank You for Your faithfulness and goodness and beautiful plan, God. We stand in awe of You.
