Do We Rob God?

Malachi 3:8-12 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be FOOD in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. s “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

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If you go to church it is almost a certainty that you will have, at sometime, listened to somebody talking about giving and offerings - probably more than once. Recently my attention has been drawn once again to this important question of giving and offering and how much is the right amount to give or offer. However this time the Lord seemed to want me to dig deeper into His word on the subject rather than the many thoughts of others. It was like digging up buried, long forgotten, treasures. And while digging around in His word this one thought kept surfacing - are churches today struggling because it is we who are robbing God even as we are giving generously to our church? How is that even possible?

The deeper I dug into the word of God on the matter the more fascinating were the things I uncovered. Things we seem to have forgotten about. But things I believe the Lord wants us to remember so that He can again pour out His blessing on His people. For the very things we rob Him of are the very things He wants to bless us with.

The death of Jesus on the cross put an end to the need for sin offerings. But sin offerings were not the only thing that the Lord's people brought into the Temple of God. There were many other types of offerings that were not for sins. But not all that was brought into the temple - was for the temple. God used some of the things that came into the Temple for other purposes - very important purposes.

One of the treasures I unearthed as I not only dug deep into the word but also deep into my own preconceived notions, was the understanding that while these days there is a tendency to call it the "collection", offerings were never about collecting. They were not about "pooling our resources". Rather they have always been about sharing and distribution of our resources. God does not eat meat, fruit, vegetables, or grains. Nor does He drink the fruit of the vine. Of what use is gold and precious stones to the one who already owns everything? The offerings were received by God, but not for Himself. He shared them and distributed them among His "dependants"

The tribe of Levi were not apportioned any land among the tribes of Israel by which they could support themselves. They were set apart by God as His servants and the offerings from their fellow Israelites were to feed and clothe and care for those who had foregone personal material gain and possessions in order to devote their time and energy, indeed their entire lives, to serving the God of Israel and His people.

Numbers 18:23-25 (NIV) It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. 24 Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’”

But the Levites were not the only ones in Israel that did not have the means to feed and clothe themselves. There were the, the widows, the fatherless, and the destitute from other lands who sought refuge among them. The offerings were to feed and clothe and care for them also.

There was one more surprising discovery I made. We speak often of the "tithe" as a standard of offering to attain or exceed. But the truth is the tithe is not an offering at all. It is not a mark of our generosity, it is an expectation of our duty. In reality the tithe is that part of our increase (income) that belongs to the Lord. We do not offer the tithe - we surrender it to the Lord who already owns it. Our generosity begins with anything we give beyond tithing.

"A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord." (Leviticus 27:30)

But it does not end there because the tithe did not belong to the Temple or its keepers, it belonged to God Himself. It was to be placed in HIS "storehouse" and used for a specific purpose. The tithe was to feed, clothe, and care for not only the Levites themselves whose only inheritence was the Lord, but also the fatherless, the widow, and the foreigners in need among them. These people had no families to look to for help, no lands to support them, they had only the Lord Himself as their provider. And the Lord looked to His people to ensure that a tenth of all He had blessed THEM with would be in His storehouse to provide for those among His people who had no provider but the Lord Himself.

Deuteronomy 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

The tithe was to ensure that ALL God's people and those who dwelt among them in His Promised Land were EQUALLY blessed. It is not by accident that the tribe of Levi plus the foreigners in need, the fatherless and the widows represented about one tenth of the population of Israel meaning the tithe produced one share that was about equal to all the other shares. (For those who are into maths 100%-10% = one 90% share and 9x10% = one 90% share).

The Lord has not put any time limit on the promise of Malachi 3 to HIS people. I believe the Lord still issues this challenge to us today also. If we, His people, bring His full tithe into His warehouse and distribute it for that which HE intended it to be used, He will pour out such blessing on His people that all the world will see it and call us blessed of God.

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