A friend offered to pray with me about the situation I was feeling stuck in. I didn't want to. I still don't. There had been a time when prayer could have made a difference. Now it was too late. The die was cast, the horse was out of the barn–pick your favourite metaphor– the train was down the tracks. No one could put Humpty Dumpty together again.

My pain was great because my situation had once held so much promise. As God closes His speech against the priests, He feels the same way about them. The priests hailed from the tribe of Levi, who had taught the people well. ″True instruction was in his mouth . . . He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin″ (Malachi 2:6). But now the decadent priests have ″turned from the way and by [their] teaching have caused many to stumble; [they] have violated the covenant with Levi″ (v. 8). God will shame them before the people ″because [they] have not followed [His] ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law″ (v. 9).

We're not sure what the priests were teaching or how they were corrupting justice, but it's no surprise that their detestable worship of God would bleed into their mistreatment of others. It's impossible to despise God and yet love those who are made in His image. Our attitude towards God inevitably determines our affection for others.

God's warning to the priests also means it's never too late to do what's right. The situation might seem hopeless–at least in the short term–but we can still obey God, simply because it's the right thing to do. The priests could repent and do their jobs with passion, for no other reason than ″the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth″ (v. 7).

It might be too late to turn the nation back to God, but godly priests could still save someone. And even if it's too late to make a difference in anyone's life, godly priests could still honour God by teaching and obeying His truth. It's never too late for that.

I'm sorry for my stuck situation, and for yours. But this is no time for despair. Let's do what's right regardless, let's bow our knees in prayer. No mess that makes us more reliant on God is ever wasted.