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You've Got Something On Your Face

Why Me!?!?

Going through the Old Testament prophet Malachi recently, I found that God is not beyond disgusting to make a point.

“And now, you priests, this warning is for you. If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name,” says the Lord Almighty, “I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.

“Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will smear on your faces the dung from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it." ~Malachi 2:1-3


I don' think I need to add much to make this story interesting. Sure, I have many gross poo stories from when my kids were younger, but nothing that matches this. God threatened to smear dung (poo for the less sophisticated) on the faces of the priests.

What? What?

To offer a bit of background, when priests would offer sacrifices, the excrement of the sacrifice would be removed and taken outside the city to be burned. You know, because who wants that when you're roasting a sacrifice? So God is taking the priestly functions away from them, since they don't seem to want to do it the right anyway, and removing them with the rest of the waste.

Why would God do such a thing? "Because you have not resolved to honor me." Oh, I guess God takes this pretty seriously. This is actually the message Malachi has over and again in his four short chapters. The Israelites didn't seem to understand. But then again, neither do we.

We read all over scripture how God is jealous for His glory and His Name and His fame. We should be too.    Otherwise, when the world comes to look, we'll have a lot more than egg on our face. If we choose not to revere God's Name and to live as a royal priesthood should, then we will continue to be embarrassed by how our words and our actions do not line up.

This life is about God. Do you want to make it about anything else?


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