Deuteronomy 26:12 “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’Not only were the people of Israel to include the sojourner in their special celebrations and share with them by allowing them to glean their fields and vineyards, every third year they were to give a special tithe for the support of these special classes of people. It was part of their showing God that they fully obeyed and trusted Him, and thoroughly believed that their land belonged to Him and that all the blessings they had were from His hand. It truly was faith in action. As part of this celebration, they invited Him in to examine their homes, hands, and hearts to any evidence to the contrary. Why the big deal here? This was one of the easiest ways for their disobedience to slip by unnoticed and for ingratitude and self-sufficiency to slip into their lives. Has it slipped into ours?
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