In times of crisis or trouble, we are often more spiritually aware. When we feel pressure or anxiety, we tend to turn to God for help. But in "normal" times, we tend to forget about God and His activity in our lives. In seasons of the routine and predictable, we tend to go about our everyday lives without considering God might have something to say about how we are living.

Eugene Peterson says the book of Malachi was written for these seasons. "The prophecy of Malachi is made to order for just such conditions," Peterson writes. "Malachi creates a crisis at a time when we are unaware of crisis. He wakes us up to the crisis of God during the times when the only thing we are concerned with is us. He keeps us on our toes, listening for God, waiting in anticipation for God, ready to respond to God, who is always coming to us."

In this book, God's people bring seven questions to God. In His answers, we are reminded that God will confront us in order to care for us and bring us back to Himself.