ICS Daily Devotions
The First Biblical Financial Principle
Malachi 3:8,10 (NKJV) “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings….Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, ” If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.
The pandemic has shown us where we have invested our security and whether we have placed our trust in God’s provision. It is time to return to the basics of trusting God as Jehovah Jireh, our provider, through the biblical financial principles, starting from tithing.
To understand why God said the people were “robbing” Him, we need to understand that God’s original intent of tithing was to meet the needs of the Levites who were not given land like the other tribes of Israel but had to live on the tithe. However, it went beyond that, in the sense that it gave the givers an opportunity to show their worship and dependency on God. Therefore, tithing has dual purposes: practical and spiritual.
In both the Old and New Testaments, God uses people as a channel to provide for His work and to His servants. It is “paying” tithe because it was God’s instruction—and not an option—to bring the tithe that belongs to Him to the storehouse, in order that the work of the ministry could continue. Because God has a heart for the poor, the tithe would also go towards helping those in need. Therefore, if the tithe is a means for the Lord to bless the people, by withholding it, we are robbing what belongs to Him.
Discussion about giving always revolves around how much “I” should give and whether tithing is an Old Testament practice that is still relevant today. People who go to such lengths in doing research on tithing should ask themselves what is behind their motivation. If we see ourselves as stewards of God’s money and if we have experienced His goodness and faithfulness, why are we even asking these questions?
While money can be an idol that prevents us from fully trusting God, tithing causes us to put our dependency on God to provide, keeps us humble and gives us the right attitude towards God and money. Our security and identity will be tied to money unless we have renewed our mind with the Word of God, and we will be afraid of giving due to the fear of not having enough or losing control over our lives. However, God does not want us to have our security in money but to have our faith in Him. He wants us to believe that He can provide in good and bad times.
Sermon Series: Reflections
