Malachi 3:6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
As we have seen in the opening chapters of Malachi, the people of Israel were being half-hearted in their worship and their lifestyle. The priests were not living up to the standards of the covenant and did not seem to care. One tell-tale sign of their insincerity and apathy was seen in their lack of generosity. They were not even giving a tithe to the temple. It was not that God "needed" their gifts, but what it meant that they were not giving: they were not trusting Him to provide as He always had. It was not just a matter of faithfulness, but even of faith itself. God was saying: "Test Me. Just take this basic step of faith. Give and see that I will provide more than you need.
No comments:
Post a Comment