Six Things About God That Don’t Change – Week 4 Guide
Be Careful What You Wish For: God’s Justice – Delayed, Purifying and Perfect – Malachi 2:17-3:5
To download the guide for this week, use the link below.
In Malachi’s day, God’s people were weary and cynical. They looked around and concluded that the wicked were prospering while the righteous suffered. Their cry — “Where is the God of justice?” — was both a lament and an accusation. But God’s response through Malachi is sobering; justice will come, but not as they expect.
Before God brings judgment, God first brings purification. Like a refiner’s fire or fuller’s soap, God’s justice begins by cleansing God’s own people. The delay in God’s justice is not evidence of indifference, but of mercy — giving time for hearts to be refined before the day of reckoning.
Malachi reminds us to be careful what we wish for. When we ask for God’s justice, are we ready for the Lord to begin that work in us? God’s justice is never separated from God’s love, mercy, and desire to restore what is broken.
Connecting
Can you think of a time when you got exactly what you asked or hoped for — but it didn’t turn out quite the way you imagined? What did you learn from that experience?
Malachi 2:17-3:5 (NRSV)
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”
3 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 Then I will draw near to you for judgment; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
(Optional additional readings: Jeremiah 9:23–24 and Micah 6:6–8)
Questions for Discussion
- What do you think it means to “weary the Lord” (Malachi 2:17)?
- Why do you think God’s justice is sometimes delayed?
- What does it mean that God’s justice begins with purification (the refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap)?
- When we cry out for justice in the world, how can we also prepare our hearts for God’s refining justice in us?
- Verse 5 lists categories of injustice (sorcery, adultery, falsehood, exploitation, oppression). How are these forms of injustice still present in our society today — and how might the Church respond faithfully?
- How does the justice of God revealed in Jesus (our advocate and defender) reshape our understanding of judgment?
- In what ways have you desired justice for others but mercy for yourself? What might it look like to desire both for all people?
Closing Thought
“Be careful what you wish for.”
When we long for God’s justice, we’re really longing for God’s holy presence — and God’s presence purifies before it punishes. The God of justice does not delay out of apathy, but out of grace. Justice will come — but first, God refines those the Lord loves.
Praying for Each Other
Are there any joys to celebrate, any burdens we can share?
Closing Prayer:
Lord, you are just and righteous in all your ways. Forgive us when we confuse your patience for indifference. Purify our hearts by your Spirit so that we may live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you. Make us instruments of your justice and grace in a world that desperately needs both. Amen.