Years ago, when I was just beginning to learn to obey God, I got myself into financial trouble. I had a steady job that provided me with a regular paycheck. The money that I was paid was sufficient to cover my bills and to pay for the things that I really needed, but in spite of that, I ended up running out of money before I received my next paycheck.
Whenever something happens to you, there is always a cause. It is sometimes important to search out why things happen to you. It was important to me in this case to find out why this was happening.
Some people say that God moves in mysterious ways, and that we can’t always know why some things happen to us.
That is nonsense. The Word of God tells us over and over to seek God for wisdom (James 1:5; Proverbs 8). Jesus assured us that if we ask, we will receive. If we seek, we will find.
“Continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you. Yes, everyone who continues asking will receive. He who continues searching will find. And he who continues knocking will have the door opened for him.”—Matthew 7:7-8 (ICB)
When you sincerely seek wisdom from God, He leads you to an understanding of the fear of God (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7). At the core of the fear of God is the realization that there are consequences for every thought, every word, and every action, good and bad.
So there had to be a reason why I ran out of money even though I received more than enough money every month to pay for everything that I needed. What was causing this to happen? I didn’t spend money carelessly. That wasn’t it.
The problem was that I delayed paying my tithe to God.
I realized that, even though I had good intentions to pay my tithe to God after I received every paycheck, the tithe was not a priority, and sometimes I didn’t get to it until my money was almost gone at the end of the month.
That was my problem. That was causing my financial difficulties and causing me to run out of money unnecessarily.
We are commanded to give first to God, before paying our bills or spending money on other things. Tithing on all of our income also means God gets His 10% of ALL of our income before taxes are taken out. So, we should always tithe on the total amount of our income before taxes, and tithing should be the first thing we do with our money after receiving it. God does not appreciate leftovers. This is commanded over and over in Scripture.
“Thou shalt not delay to pay thy tithes and thy firstfruits”—Exodus 22:29 (DRA)
“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first and best part of all your income. Then your barns will be full, and your vats will overflow with fresh wine.”—Proverbs 3:9-10 (GW)
“When you gather your crops at harvest time, you should bring the first of everything you harvest to the house of the Lord your God.”—Exodus 23:19 (ERV)
“You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of the Lord your God.”—Exodus 34:26 (AMP)
“The Lord told Moses to say to the community of Israel:
*After you enter the land I am giving you, the ****first ***bundle of wheat from each crop must be given to me. So bring it to a priest on the day after the Sabbath. He will lift it up in dedication to me, and I will accept you.”—Leviticus 23:9-11 (CEV)
“You must give the priests the first part of your harvest. You must give them the first part of your grain, your new wine, and your oil. You must give the Levites the first wool cut from your sheep.”—Deuteronomy 18:4 (ERV)
“The first of all the first fruits of every kind, and every contribution and offering of every kind, from all your contributions and offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priest the first of your coarse meal and bread dough, so that a blessing may rest on your house.”—Ezekiel 44:30 (AMP)
*“And [we obligate ourselves] to bring the ****firstfruits ***of our ground and the first of all the fruit of all trees year by year to the house of the Lord, As well as the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as is written in the Law, and the firstlings of our herds and flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in [His] house. And we shall bring the first and best of our coarse meal, our contributions, the fruit of all kinds of trees, of new wine, and of oil to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God. And we shall bring the tithes from our ground to the Levites, for they, the Levites, collect the tithes in all our rural towns.”—Nehemiah 10:35-37 (AMPC)
The practical way to do this is that as soon as you receive payment, gifts, inheritance, or other income, you take 10% of that value and give it to God before you do anything else with that income.
Online giving has made this easier, but if days will go by before you are able to give your tithe to your church, then the best thing to do is to set that money aside so that it is dedicated to God and not used for anything else. Then, when you have the first opportunity, you can take your tithe money to the church and give it there. This was recommended by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:2-4 (NLT):
“On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once. When I come, I will write letters of recommendation for the messengers you choose to deliver your gift to Jerusalem. And if it seems appropriate for me to go along, they can travel with me.”
Give God Your Best
God always specified that whatever is offered to Him should be without defects or blemishes. Whatever we give to God should be our best, not leftovers, and not rejects. We would not give defective gifts to our loved ones. Likewise, we should not offer anything but our best to God.
“As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord your God.”—Exodus 23:19 and Exodus 34:26 (NLT)
*“On the day when you present the bundle of grain, offer a male lamb. It must be one year old. ****There must be nothing wrong with it. ***It will be a burnt offering to the Lord.”—Leviticus 23:12 (ICB)
God explains this from His perspective in the first chapter of Malachi:
“The Lord All-Powerful said, “Children honor their fathers. Servants honor their masters. I am your Father, so why don’t you honor me? I am your master, so why don’t you respect me? You priests don’t respect my name.
“But you say, ‘What have we done that shows we don’t respect your name?’
“You bring unclean bread to my altar.
“But you ask, ‘What makes that bread unclean?’
“It is unclean because you show no respect for the altar of the Lord. You bring blind animals as sacrifices, and that is wrong. You bring sick and crippled animals for sacrifices, and that is wrong. Try giving those sick animals as a gift to your governor. Would he accept those sick animals? No, he would not accept them.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
“Now try asking God to be good to you. But he will not listen to you, and it is all your fault.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
“I wish one of you would close the Temple doors to stop the lighting of useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you. I will not accept your gifts.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
“People all around the world respect my name. All around the world they bring good gifts to me and burn good incense as a gift to me, because my name is important to all of them.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
“But you people show that you don’t respect my name. You say that the Lord’s altar is unclean. And you don’t like the food from that altar. You smell the food and refuse to eat it. You say it is bad. Then you bring sick, crippled, and hurt animals to me. You try to give sick animals to me as sacrifices, but I will not accept them.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said. “Some people have good, male animals that they could give as sacrifices, but don’t. Some people bring good animals and promise to give those healthy animals to me. But then they secretly exchange those good animals and give me sick animals instead. Bad things will happen to those people. I am the Great King and people all around the world respect me!” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.”—Malachi 1:6-14 (ERV)
This is what got Cain into trouble with God. I’ve heard it said that Cain was rejected because he offered plants instead of animals to God. That doesn’t really make sense in light of the rest of the Old Testament. God not only *accepted *offerings from harvests, but he *commanded *that offerings be made from grain harvests. That’s where the term “firstfruits” came from. Cain’s offering was not accepted, in part, because he did not take care to offer God the very best of what he had, but God accepted Abel’s offering because he brought his best to God.
“When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”—Genesis 4:2-7 (NLT)
“For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me. There will I [graciously] accept them, and there will I require your offerings and the firstfruits and the choicest of your contributions, with all your sacred things.”—Ezekiel 20:40 (AMPC)
We don’t lose when we give our best to God. Giving our best to God releases blessings on us and on our families that we would never experience otherwise.
*“The priests should have the best of all the first ripened fruits. The best of every gift from all your contributions must go to the priests. The best of your dough must go to the priests. ****This will cause a blessing to rest on your home.”—***Ezekiel 44:30 (GW)