How to Prove that God is Real and Turn Your Financial Problems Around - Part 3
God directs us, in no uncertain terms, to give 10% of all of our income to Him. This is called the tithe. But why? Why does God direct us to do this?
It is because the first 10% of all of our income belongs to God. It is not ours to keep. The Bible is very clear about this.
“One-tenth of all crops belongs to the Lord. This includes the crops from fields and the fruit from trees. That one-tenth belongs to the Lord. … The priest will take every tenth animal from a person’s cattle or sheep. It will belong to the Lord.”—Leviticus 27:30-32 (ICB)
(During the times when the Bible was written, the economy was based on agriculture, not industry as it is in our time since the industrial revolution, so profits then were measured in crops and livestock. In our time, most people are paid in money, rather than crops and animals. The means of payment has changed, but the principle is the same.)
So, we don’t actually *give *tithes, we pay tithes. Tithes are something that is owed. It is not optional. It is not a voluntary gift. It is payment to the God who gives you life. When we withhold that 10% of our income and keep it for ourselves, we are actually stealing what rightfully belongs to God. He makes this clear to us in Malachi 3:8-9 (CEV):
“You people are robbing me, your God. And, here you are, asking, ‘How are we robbing you?’ You are robbing me of the offerings and of the ten percent that belongs to me. That’s why your whole nation is under a curse.”
You may make payments for a home or a car. You can think of the tithe as payment for the life that God has given you.
That doesn’t mean we pay tithes grudgingly, because “God loves a cheerful giver [and delights in the one whose heart is in his gift]” (2 Corinthians 9:7 AMP). Giving to God is a type of worship. It is a tangible way to give thanks and praise to God for all the good things that He has done for us and for our families.
When the Israelites brought their first 10% to give to God, they recounted promises that God had fulfilled for them and the good things that God had done for them. They remembered how He was with them in their times of suffering; how He delivered them from oppression and bondage, comforted them in their suffering, and gave them an abundant life. They took time to rejoice in every good thing that the Lord had done for them.
“When you have come into the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance and possess it and live in it,
You shall take some of the first of all the produce of the soil which you harvest from the land the Lord your God gives you and put it in a basket, and go to the place [the sanctuary] which the Lord your God has chosen as the abiding place for His Name [and His Presence].
And you shall go to the priest who is in office in those days, and say to him, I give thanks this day to the Lord your God that I have come to the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.
And the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.
And you shall say before the Lord your God, A wandering and lost Aramean ready to perish was my father [Jacob], and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and numerous.
And the Egyptians treated us very badly and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage.
And when we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our [cruel] oppression;
And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, and with great (awesome) power and with signs and with wonders;
And He brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
And now, behold, I bring the firstfruits of the ground which You, O Lord, have given me. And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God;
And you and the Levite and the stranger and the sojourner among you shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given you and your household.”—Deuteronomy 26 (AMPC)
Also, as a result of giving their tithes to God, the Israelites, having fulfilled their obligation to God, were then entitled to ask for God’s blessings to be upon them.
“You will set apart a tenth of everything you produce in the third year. That’s the year for giving the tenth to people who have greater needs. You will give it to the Levites, outsiders and widows. You will also give it to children whose fathers have died. Then all of them will have plenty to eat in your towns. Speak to the Lord your God. Say to him, “I have taken your sacred share from my house. I have given it to the Levites, outsiders and widows. I have also given it to children whose fathers have died. I’ve done everything you commanded me to do. I haven’t stopped obeying your commands. I haven’t forgotten any of them.*** ***I haven’t eaten any part of your sacred share while I mourned over someone who had died. I haven’t taken any of it from my house while I was ‘unclean.’ And I haven’t offered any of it to the dead. Lord my God, I’ve obeyed you. I’ve done everything you commanded me to do. Look down from the holy place where you live in heaven. Bless your people Israel. Bless the land you have given us. It’s the land you promised to give to our people of long ago. It’s a land that has plenty of milk and honey.”—Deuteronomy 26:12-15 (NIRV)