Malachi 3:9-11 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
9 You are suffering under a curse, yet you—the whole nation—are still robbing Me. 10 Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure. 11 I will rebuke the devourer[a] for you, so that it will not ruin the produce of your land and your vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the Lord of Hosts.
Floodgate: a last restraint holding back an outpouring of something powerful or substantial.
I know you don’t want to hear this and as soon as you see Malachi you know what’s coming. Don’t close your eyes or your ears but open your heart and see what it is that God is saying…
He wants to bless you. He wants you to give him your whole heart.
Look what he says:
He said the nation is sick and under a curse because it is robbing him. How you say?
In tithes and offerings.
He only wants what is his anyway…just a tenth. You get to keep the other ninety percent.
He says, TEST ME!
You bring me my tenth and I will open the FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN, and pour out a blessing for you without measure.
Anyone with any sense at all can see that it would be worth it.
He will rebuke the devourer from you so that it will not destroy the produce of your land.
And your vines in your fields will not fail to produce fruit.
That job you want, it’s yours. That sickness that is lurking just around the corner, banished. Financial crisis not a threat, God rebuked it. Why because you didn’t rob God…you were not a thief…you gave back what was his to him.
Abel gave God the best and first of his livestock. Way before the law came.
Abraham gave God the first and best that he had. And God blessed him beyond his wildest dreams.
This is a principle of God. If you give him your first and your best…what belongs to him anyway, He will bless you in ways you can’t even comprehend.
Test Him and see…God does not lie, try it. It’s all His anyway. He just wants to know that he’s got your whole heart. Do it joyfully and cheerfully...just as joyfully you would if you were given a promotion or the test the doctor took that came back negative of the dreaded illness you thought you might have.
Be exuberant! Not to gain anything, but simply because God is so good to you and loves you that you want to bless Him!
Do you love Him? Then really love Him! You can’t out give God!
Lord Jesus, I give you my whole heart and I never want it back. It is yours. Help us to open our eyes and ears and our hearts to be obedient to you today. In Jesus name, Amen.
Giving to God does open floodgates of blessing but they are not often financial or success. For most of us, they are heart blessings. Peace, joy, stronger trust, deeper faith. In Malachi's time, God's blessings were measured in wealth, crops, or children. Now that Christ has come, God's blessings focus more on spiritual things. There have been only a couple times in all my years of tithing that God has blessed me in a financial way. Most often, He's used my faithfulness to teach me His faithfulness.
ReplyDeleteGod doesn't change. Jesus spoke more on money than he did on love. God has blessed me many ways. But it's not about that it's about where our heart is. God wants our heart.
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