“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 you will not have room enough for it.” Malachi 3:10 (NIV)
Malachi
3:10 is the only place where God actually says to test Him. Everywhere else we are warned to obey and not
to test our God. However, He knows we
cannot out give Him, but here He wants us to try. So let me tell you my testimony of how I
learned I better tithe and even see how testing Him in this worked out.
I
started out my walk with Christ having a hard time tithing. I understood it, but that first year after a
divorce and losing a high paying job, it felt even harder to do. I gave a lot of things up in order to start
over due to the financial burden I had put myself into over the years that worsened
with loss of a job I really enjoyed.
The
second year of my walk with Christ, I tried harder at giving even if my
acquired job started off paying less than my unemployment. Things seemed to stall through the year with
no solution in sight. So in January 2004
I decided to finally go for bankruptcy.
This was something I never wanted to do as I felt it was the cheating
way out. But let me tell you how God
showed up at this time due to my whole hearted attempts at tithing correctly
and praying for guidance out of the mess I had made for myself prior to knowing
Him.
First,
I learned even my 401Ks would be closed out to resolve the debt issue. I had the bankruptcy plan in hand.
Second,
I was forced to wait a week before the lawyer would even bother doing anything
due to his current work load. That did
not bother me. What is one week after
nearly two years of squeaking by and having creditors even trying to subpoena
you?
Third,
within three business days my credit card company calls up. “We’ll forgive half the debt if you pay half
by February 2nd.” I had two
weeks to do this. Maybe they got wind of
my plan, but the lawyer said he would be unable to do anything for at least a
week. God obviously fixed this timing.
Fourth,
in another day or two I received my 401K statement. This had been hit during 2002 and earlier in
2003. It really hadn’t looked good up
through the third quarter of 2003, though I knew it had enough money to pay off
a good portion of debt. The economy did
recuperate the end of that year, but my 401K went above and beyond what even I
could expect in one quarter. Another
awesome thing I could thank God for.
So
I closed my 401Ks, paid half of that huge credit card bill, and did not have to
deal with bankruptcy. I even had the
ability to buy a newer used car to replace my eleven year old model I had at
the time, which was becoming a money sink to keep on the road. It was even cheaper to pay the car off and do
a payment plan to the IRS for my taxes.
I can only thank God for how I came out ahead in this.
My
finances are looking pretty good now. I
know beyond a doubt from my own tests with God they go really bad fast when I
rob God of His tithe no matter how good I think my excuse is. Besides, I know I’m working on treasure He
wants me to have in heaven as I obey Him while on earth. Cheating on God just winds up being me
robbing myself and others of God’s blessings.
I hate cheaters and never want God to say I was one. How about you?
