Daily Devotional

Here we see a command and a promise from God regarding the tithing by Israel of their harvest. In ancient Israel it was commanded to tithe, or give a tenth of your harvest to the storehouse, also known as your first fruits, in order to support the Levites, the priests. God is saying in the passage that if Israel would be faithful to bring their tithes to the storehouse He would pour out blessing on the nation much greater than what they gave.

Now most of us don’t grow crops anymore and so when we speak of tithes we usually think of money. Our harvest is the money that we earn by performing work and so the principle carries over that we tithe or give a tenth of our increase to the Lord. And we do that by giving to our local church. This is an act of spiritual discipline for us, similar to taking communion, being baptized, and striving to live like Christ in our everyday lives. We teach this principle in Financial Peace, to set aside ten percent in your budget and we do it at the top of the budget, so we don’t feel like we ran out of money before we got to the tithe. Afterall it should be our first fruits, not our last fruits.

Now some will take this verse and others and try to game the system. You may have heard some of these ideas known as “prosperity gospel.” The idea that God wants you to be wealthy and comfortable and if you give to God what He requires, God will multiply it a hundred fold in your life. This idea is not biblical. In fact Jesus was very clear that if we stand for Him in this life, we will be despised, hated, and persecuted for His name's sake. Doesn’t sound like wealthy and comfortable to me. We give to God as an act of worship and obedience, not as a get rich quick scheme. We don’t give to God because of what we hope to get back, we give to God as a result of our love and devotion to Him. Now He may choose to bless us with wealth, but He also may not, and either way blessed be the name of the Lord.

I believe while the promise given in this verse was to Israel, the principle still holds true for us, in that if we have faith by giving to God what we should, God will be faithful to take care of us. Not necessarily to bless us with immense wealth, but to provide for our needs as He sees fit according to His will and plan for our lives. As children of God, we are not to be striving for treasure in this life, our treasure is in Heaven. So if you are not already giving to God, try it, not to get rich, not for anything in return, but as an act of worship, an act of love to God. And God will provide for you and bless you, according to His will, not yours, which is always the best way.

New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.