“God Never Promised You a Rose Garden”
Mal. 1:2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.” 4 If Edom says, “We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,” the LORD of hosts says, “They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’” 5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, “Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!”
This passage seems to reveal something nasty about God. God has loved Israel/Judah and hated Esau/Edom. There are many other Scriptures like that, but I suspect we’re missing two very important things.
First, the Bible often communicates by exaggeration. This is not just true for the Old Testament. According to the New Testament, Jesus said that we are to hate our father and mother (Luke 14:26). He also said that, if our eye causes us to sin, we should pluck our eye out and throw it away. I’ve not found many people who refuse to acknowledge that Jesus was communicating by exaggeration in these instances.
So, what is going on in Malachi, I suspect, is this: God is saying how much he loves Judah by contrasting the fate of the neighboring nation of Edom. Both Judah and Edom had been decimated by the wars and political intrigues of that time, but—speaking comparatively and in an exaggerated fashion—God had loved Judah and hated Edom.
Of course, part of Edom’s problem was of their own making. If we are honest, most of our problems, individually and collectively, are of our making. Or, at least, we tend to make the problems worse than they need to be by our own continued bad choices. In Edom’s case, they were determined to rebuild their ruined cities. Not a bad thing, but the way in which they state their determination sounds more than a bit arrogant. For anyone, Judah, Edom, or America, it is still true that pride goes before a fall. Rebuilding ruins on pride ruins everything.
There is a second thing about Malachi 1:2-5 that we often overlook: the main point. And what is that main point? I suspect it may be summarized like this. God assured Israel/Judah of God’s love. The shot back with an eye-rolling “Really?!” Their response sounds more like an accusation than a question? God says to them, “You think you’ve got it bad? You don’t! Take one look at your neighbor, Edom, and you’ll see that. You are still in existence. Edom is, effectively, not.”
I heard of a guy who got up every morning, picked up the newspaper, and turned to the obituaries. He said, “If I don’t read my name there, I make my coffee and get on with my day.” Hopefully that gentleman was grateful as he enjoyed his coffee and got on with his day.
I don’t know what God’s musical favorites are, but I wonder if he likes the title, “I Beg Your Pardon: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden”!
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