Know God: Father to Be Honored & Revered

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?” Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’” (Malachi 1:6)

Interesting passage. We always think of the Love of the Father, but we do not always think of the honor and reverence toward the Father. In this passage of the book of Malachi, the Lord rebukes His priests for not showing honor and reverence toward Him as a Father and Master.

There were several areas that He addressed throughout the book of Malachi.

1.  Heart position lacking honor and reverence.
2. Offering the leftover and unwanted portions as tithes and offerings
3. Fully withholding tithes
4.  Forsaking their wives and children, divorce, unfaithfulness in the family.

And there were several promises and consequences if those things changed or did not change.

And the prayers of the priests were not accepted, because these heart positions and actions were not changed. God even said basically in a paraphrase, “I see your tears, but I will pay no attention to them…” because the actions were not reflecting the right heart posture of honor and reverence toward God.

Now, this may seem heavy for many reading it, and it is. But as we looked in the previous session at Hebrews 4 – the loving Father who corrects – this is all the one and same Person, who is doing this. He loves us, but part of His love toward us is pruning and refining us. And if we are submissive and humble ourselves before Him, we will be changed and we will become more like Him – holy as He is holy.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding the knowledge of God (Proverbs 2:1-6). If we want to know God, then we must have a healthy fear of Him. This is not the ungodly fear spoken of in I John 4, but the holy, godly, fear of the Lord that shows honor and reverence to Him and is aware that He is much higher and bigger than us.

Scripture: “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am the Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is My reverence?” Says the Lord of hosts to you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’” (Malachi 1:6)

Prayer: Turn this passage into a dialogue with God. Ask Him in your own words if there is any place in your life where you have “despised His name” or have not showed honor and reverence to His name.

Listen: Pause and see if anything comes to your mind. Maybe there is something even from one of the things that God had rebuked the priests for.

Repent (Confess/Turn): If there is anything that comes up in your heart that you feel you have done wrong or that you have not honored the Lord in, then confess that to Him by telling Him and asking Him for forgiveness. Ask Him if there is anything you can do to make it right (for example: paying tithes, restoring relationships with family), etc.

Repentance means to stop going in the direction you are going and completely turn in the opposite direction. So, if you have confessed and repented in an area, then ask the Lord how you can replace that action or heart position with a new one that shows Him honor and reverence.

Write: Write these things down, and keep a record of them. Make concrete goals and action steps and set certain times that you will go back and visit them and realign yourself to them.