Malachi 3:13-20
Lk 11:5-13
Whenever we are faced with overwhelming odds, we may tend to say: if we can't beat them, then might as well join them.
Whether said in jest or in resignation, that statement portrays the powerful reality of the contradictions of life.
Examples of contradictions of life are "the rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer" and "those who do evil gets the benefits, those who do good end up as losers".
That was the lament of the people who try to be good - they say that "it is useless to serve God, what is the good of keeping God's commands."
Because the arrogant seemed to be blessed and the evil-doers prosper.
But the prophet Malachi reminds the people that God sees and He knows and He remembers.
In the end, for those who fear God, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays.
Malachi urged his people to persevere. Jesus would urge us to persevere and also to persist.
In the face of the contradictions of life, we need to persevere in our faith and persists in our prayer.
We must continue to believe that God wants to bestow His bountiful blessings upon us.
So in the face of contradictions of life and the seemingly overwhelming evil around us:
-could we believe in the sun, even though it is not shining?
-could we still believe in love, even though we may not feel it?
-could we still believe in God, even when He is silent?