BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be
food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty,
“and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and
pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough
to store it.”
(Malachi 3:10)
MEDITATION:
Yes, this devotional is about obeying God’s command
to tithe, but read it all the way to the end, because it
is brief and God may want use this as an opportunity
to speak to you about your faith and trust in Him.
We can say all we want about getting right with God,
but if we don’t get right with God in our finances, we
are not right with God (according to His Word).
If our repentance has not reached our bank account, we
have to wonder if it has reached our heart. Why? Because
this is one way the Lord has provided for us to show that
we truly trust Him (and that we want to be obedient).
Some folks struggle with even being obedient to His command
to meet together and worship Him (Hebrews 10:24-25). Why
does He give us this command? Not only so that we will enjoy
worshipping and praising Him in His house, but also, it is
also an opportunity to encourage each other.
Of course there are times when we may not be able to attend due
to sickness, pandemics, etc. However in today’s world, we can still
connect and participate in worship through social media that many
churches have made available. It’s not the same as physically being
there, but if our desire is to worship the Lord, we will not get lazy
but will use whatever venue we can find to ‘stay in touch’ with our
brothers and sisters in Christ.
Do you have times of feeling down and alone? Then obey His
command and allow Him to minister to your needs.
In Malachi 3:7, God says,
“Return unto me, and I will return unto you.”
And the people said,
“How are we to return?”
God’s answer in verse 8 reveals that they were to return to Him
in their tithes and offerings. The point of return for them is to
be the same as their point of departure.
If we are going to come back to God, and if we are going to renew
our fellowship with Him, then we need to obey His command to
‘bring the WHOLE tithe’ to His house as we are told in His Word
(Malachi 3:10).
How can we say that we trust God to save us from eternal suffering
and yet, we cannot trust Him to take care of us today? Does it make
sense that a God who loves us enough to provide for our eternal needs
would fall short in providing for our current needs?
So the question regarding our trust in God is, “What is our ‘hang-up’
in obeying His command to ‘bring the WHOLE tithe’ to His house?”
Doesn’t it mean that we are being influenced by the ‘Father of lies’
Satan?
Satan loves to plant thoughts in our minds like, “I could use this
money to buy something I want”, or “I need this money to make
ends meet”. In either case, the evil one has convicted us to “rob
God”.
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob
me “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing
you?’ “In tithes and offerings.” (Malachi 3:8)
Pause for a moment and meditate on the previous verse. God
tells us in one of His Ten Commandments “You shall not steal”
(Exodus 20:15). We may have decided to obey His command and
never take anything from someone else, and yet according to God,
we are stealing Him when we refuse to bring our tithes and offerings
to Him.
In essence, we are saying, “God I will obey Your command to not
steal, but I have given myself permission to steal from You”. Is that
obeying His command? It’s not, is it? Does it even make sense?
Of course not!
How can we say we are obeying His command if we are being
disobedient and stealing from the very one who gave us who
gave us the command? Not only are we breaking His command
to “not steal”, but we are also breaking some of His other commands.
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2)
When we give anything a higher priority than
God, then we are making that another god.
“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God,
for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses
his name. (Exodus 20:7)
When we claim to be followers of God but we
have chosen not to obey His commands, then
we are misusing His name.
We may ask, how is that? We are claiming to have faith
and trust in Him, but we are not trusting Him enough to
obey His commands. If we are not obeying His command,
then claiming we trust Him is a lie. We do not believe Him
when He says, “I will bless You for trusting Me”.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
that there may be food in my house. Test me
in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if
I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven
and pour out so much blessing that there will
not be room enough to store it. (Malachi 3:10)
If we are failing to obey His command to ‘worship together’
then we will also fail to obey His command to ‘return unto Him’.
ACTION:
So, where should we focus our obedience? If we are not attending
worship services, then start. If we are attending worship services,
but not ‘returning to Him’ with our tithes, then start. If we are
attending worship and giving Him our tithes, then remember we
should be cheerful about it, and not giving begrudgingly.
Each of you should give what you have decided in
your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)
God has made it as simple as possible for us to prove our faith,
(not to others, but to the Lord Himself, and to ourselves). We
could list many different ways that we prove our faith, but
we ‘know’ we prove our faith when we ‘return to Him’ through
worshipping together and bringing our tithes…cheerfully.
If we really want to ‘return to Him’, then we will trust that
His Word is true and practice obedience to the fullest.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, forgive me if I have fallen short
in showing my trust in You and Your Word. After
reading this devotional I realize that I am falling
short in obeying Your command, and I am stealing
from You through my disobedience. Lord teach me
to trust You and to obediently ‘test You’ in the area
of tithing. Father, I pray that my relationship with
You will grow stronger and closer as I obey Your
commands and You respond to my obedience. Thank
You for being my Heavenly Father in whom I can trust”.
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