Malachi 3:6-12 New International Version
Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes 6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 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. 11 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. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.
Saturday - October 16
In Numbers 18:21, God demanded the Israelites give a tenth of their harvest to God because it was all a gift from Him in the first place. Tithing was an act of faith. It required the Israelites to ask, “Will God actually care for me if I give back 10%? After all that is a lot!” In the last book of the Old Testament God challenged Israel to return to Him in faith by the symbolic act of tithing. Tithing is an invitation into a relationship of trust that God really is in control, really does love us, and really will take care of us. Tithing is an act of faith. Remember what comes right after Malachi ends? The New Testament! Jesus! Tithing does not earn salvation. But it can help prepare our hearts for God’s work in our lives and help against our worship of “mammon.”