If you haven’t read the first two previous posts in this mini series, I highly recommend that you do so...
The number one thing the financial program we used expressly emphasized was that :
We must always give God His portion first!
My husband and I both never had a problem with this one—it was a given!! We had long ago settled that in our hearts even as teenagers !
But I have seen good families struggle to know what to do when they were in a great financial mess. It wasn’t that they were rebellious or didn’t want to “do God’s Word”...they just knew well ahead of time, there wasn’t enough money to go around already to pay all the expenses... “How can we afford to pay tithes?”
Tithing must be a 100% conviction! In fact, paying tithes should come before anything else! It’s a commandment given to us by God himself! God will bless you if you honor and obey His Word!
Malachi 3:8– Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
We sure don’t want to rob God!! So even if we are in a financial mess, we must pay tithes first! Tithing is a non negotiable Biblical principle!!
The God of Enough
Remember the little widow woman of Zarephath ? Elijah told her to make him a cake first. She replied that she only had a little bit of meal/oil left. She was gonna make one more meal for her and her son and then they were probably going to die.
Sounds like she was in some dire financial straits!!
But by her obedience, even when she knew she didn’t have enough already, God multipled her supplies. Her meal barrel never ran dry, her oil didn’t run out...
Were they completely full and running over?
I doubt it...
Everyday, she may have had to scrape the bottom of the barrel, maybe she would pour out that last drip of oil every time she mixed that dough but each time, when she needed more, again, there was enough!!
1 Kings 17:11-16 ——[11] And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. [12] And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. [13] And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. [14] For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. [15] And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. [16] And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
When I was a child, my dad lost his job. My mom was a stay home mother so our home’s only source income was gone with my dad’s job loss. I remember my mom only have $25 one week to buy groceries with. She prayed over that $25 and somehow, someway, when she went in that grocery store, she found sale after sale. She was able to purchase enough groceries to last us a week—all for $25??!! Wow!
Then later, when money became even more scarce, and Dad still hadn’t been able to locate another job, Mom got a phone call from someone they barely knew out of state. That man said God had laid us on his heart and he wanted to meet us somewhere. Mom and Dad met him and he gave them a check for exactly what we needed at that time.
Mom and Dad always paid tithes and they put God first in everything they did. They both served Him with their whole hearts -
Was their trial of financial hardships easy? No way—especially with two small children!! But through those difficulties, they learned to lean on the Lord! Their faith was strong! They found that God can be trusted!! They learned to walk by faith, not by sight.
God has since richly blessed them and they came out out those trials with a better knowledge of who God is and with a testimony of God’s provision!! He is a personal God! If you desire to walk upright before Him, He will honor that!!
Trust God in these difficult times!! Lean on Him!!
His Word tells us if we will honor Him and put him in FIRST place —we will be blessed!! Our baskets may not always be overflowing, but we will have enough!
Proverbs 3:5-10 —[5] Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. [6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. [7] Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. [8] It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. [9] Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: [10] So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
I have memorized and quoted Proverbs 3:5-6 my entire life. But looking down at verse 9 —Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.
Until recently, I never associated that verse in this chapter context with the connection to the previous verses about trusting in the Lord, leaning not to our understanding, acknowledging Him in all our ways, and allowing Him to direct our paths before. God don’t put stuff in there by accident. The Word of God is Divinely inspired ! He wanted it written in just that order.
Why?? Because He wanted us to know in every area of our lives, we can trust Him... we can trust His Word...we can trust His statues/ commandments. That verse tells us there will be times that things won’t make sense to our carnal reasoning. If we already don’t have enough money to pay the bills, how can paying tithes benefit us? It will even make it worse by leaving us with less money! But that isn’t how it works in the economy of God!
One thing I’ve learned about God: His commands do not always make human, earthly sense. One thing I know about God: He doesn’t have to make sense to us. We just have to trust Him!! and Obey Him!!
Isaiah 55:8-9 ———[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. [9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Luke 6:38 reminds us that Jesus himself said :
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
It’s not that God needs our money. He doesn’t!
Instead, He wants our hearts!! He wants our obedience! He wants our trust!! Obeying His statute and His commands, especially during difficult times, will express to God how much He is worth to us. Keeping Him #1 is priority!! When God sees a sincere heart and a heart seeking to follow His commands, even at the point of sacrifice, He delights in that! He will make sure we are taken care of — we may not have every single want in life but He will supply ALL our need!
Philippians 4:19 —But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Jeremiah 29:11-13——-[11] For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. [12] Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. [13] And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
That sounds like a God that is looking out for us! He wants the best for us !! He wants to have a close, personal relationship with us!!
Psalm 37:23-25 [23] The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord : and he delighteth in his way. [24] Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. [25] I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
King David himself said he’d never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. God will take care of us if we purpose in our hearts to take Him at His Word. Do the Bible! Obedience to the Word will work!! God can still be trusted!!
God has got this !! We just have to surrender to His will and His plan ! It will work every time!!
(Btw, isn’t it crazy how you can read a passage of scripture over and over for years and then suddenly, you read it again and something new just pops out at you!! That’s because God’s Word is alive!! It’s still good for today!!)
-Tiphanie ❤
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