“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”
– Malachi 4:2
What a great picture. For those who fear God’s name, listen to this imagery.
Malachi 4:2 Pictures God as our Heavenly Father Worthy of All Praise
The sun of righteousness, picture a sun of righteousness in the sky shall rise with healing in its wings. Oh, who doesn’t want that? The sun of righteousness rising and shining upon us with healing and then different imagery. “You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall” Like a picture of pure joy, freedom. Who of us doesn’t want that? A life free to fully enjoy God and His good design for us, the key to it all? Malachi 4:2, “For you who fear My name, these things will flow.” Oh, do you fear God? Do you fear His name? Are you revering Him? Do you honor Him as holy? Do you tremble before His majesty? Ah, it is it good to realize that Jesus has called us as friends, to realize that God is our Father.
We have a close relationship with Him as children with a father. It’s beautiful. At the same time, let’s never forget that our Father is worthy of holy, healthy, reverent, awesome fear. He’s not a normal father. God’s our heavenly Father. He’s holy like no other, perfect, mysterious and majestic and honor worthy of the worship of the hosts of heaven and every people, tribe and tongue on the earth. So God, we pray like Your Word says in the Psalms, unite our hearts to fear Your name.
Malachi 4:2 Reminds Us we Should have a Healthy Fear of the Lord
God, we pray over each of our lives that we would have a healthy, holy, reverent, right fear of You. We pray Acts 9 over our lives and our families and our churches, that we would walk in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. God, help us to fear You in a way that Your righteousness rises and shines on us. Help us to fear You in a way that leads to healing from Your hand amidst all our hurts, God, amidst our sin and unrighteousness.
Heal us with Your holiness and righteousness in such a way that we go out leaping like calves from the stall. God, we want to fully enjoy You. We want to freely enjoy You. We pray for this kind of pure joy and freedom in our lives, freedom that comes from fearing You. God, help us to live in this today and tomorrow, the next day, for the next year and years to come. Help us to live lives marked by fearing You and finding freedom and joy and healing and hope as we do and God, we pray this over the nations.
Praying for the Riau Malay People
We pray this over the Riau Malay people of Indonesia and for 2 million of them, farmers and fishermen living on the northern coast of Central Sumatra. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to the Riau Malay. That they might hear the name of Jesus and believe the name of Jesus.
We pray that the sun of righteousness would rise with healing in its wings over the Riau Malay, that they would go out leaping like calves from the stall, that they would experience the freedom that’s found in You and fearing and knowing, enjoying and worshiping You, Jesus. We pray that over them even as we pray that over our own lives, according to Your word, which we love in Malachi 4:2, in Jesus name, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
