Hello, Wednesday! This is fast becoming my favorite day of the week. This week, we spend our last week in the minor prophets and the Old Testament, then we move into the New Testament and Matthew! We are going to take a little WW break next week, because I’ll be moving and want to post something different. Isn’t it interesting, though, that my move date corresponds with the break between Old and New Testament? Hm. Going to have to ask God if He’s got a reason for that. At any rate, take a look at Malachi, then drop down and tell us about your favorite verse. Be ready to talk about Matthew on June 22!
Malachi 3:10 (NIV)–“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 you will not have room enough for it.”
Okay, y’all, this is one that I have personally tested, and it’s true. It has become especially apparent to me recently. My husband and I have been doing Dave Ramsey for a while, and we were looking back through our notebook full of budget sheets. Hon, back a few years ago, there is no way, no way, that we should have been able to make budget every month, let alone have one penny left over for “fun stuff.” When we first started tithing, I used to call it “funny math,” because if you looked at our income and our outgo, you’d think, “This will never work.” But when I’d sit down and write out bills, it always did. Always. There has never been a month where we looked at our necessities and our money and said, “Not enough.” It’s insane. (Now, there have been months when we looked at our wants and said, “Not enough,” but that’s different.)
I will always remember the time when I was in college and got a speeding ticket. There were issues with the officer who wrote the ticket (long story), but I hired the lawyer who worked in the office next to ours to handle it for me. Well, that month, I looked at my checkbook and realized I didn’t have enough money to cover my half of the rent to my roommate. Uh oh. Two days before, the attorney next door called and asked me to come over. When I walked in, he told me my ticked had been thrown out, and he handed me a check that EXACTLY covered my rent for the month, saying he didn’t feel right keeping my money when all he had done was take ten minutes to file a complaint on my behalf. For real?!?
It’s not always money in hand. We’ve had bills come in at half the estimate or less. We’ve bought new cars and had dealers offer us way more than the estimated value on our trade-in. We’ve gotten to the checkout to find the item we had to have was on sale for 75% off, and yes, I believe that’s God, because it’s money in our pockets. And yes, on a couple of occasions, there have been checks in the mail, but God’s a lot more creative than dropping extra bucks into your hand. If you ask me if I believe Malachi 3:10, I say yes, yes, yes a million times over. God tells the truth all the time, and He sure told it here!
Ever had God drop that kind of blessing in your lap?
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
Malachi 3:17 – “They will be mine.” Says the Lord Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.”
Holy cow, if you didn’t’ know God loved you, how much clearer can this verse make it. He is totally claiming us and keeping us as his treasured possession. I had a little stuffed dog as a kid that I slept with and loved more than anything. I remember in elementary school during fire safety week when we were told that if there is a fire we had to get out of the house and leave everything. We were not allowed to take anything with us, but we had to just get out. I remember being so devastated about that. I was terrified we’d have a fire, but more worried that if we did I would take my stuffed dog with me, and the fireman said we were not allowed. After that week, I stopped sleeping with that stuffed animal, so I wouldn’t be tempted to try to take it.
At that point in time, that was one of my treasured possessions. That was the thing I loved the most out of all my “stuff.” The idea that God looks at each of us and not only claims us, but claims us as a treasured possession that he plans to take us to be with him gives me goose bumps. Verses like this are not only encouraging to me, but convicting. They make me want to know God more and do better in all areas of my life. It makes me want to strive to be more deserving of this kind of Love. I know we will never deserve it, and it’s a gift, but it sure makes me want to try.
Jodie says
Awww, that makes me feel so bad for little you. It makes me wonder what is going through my own kid’s head!
I know my brain just doesn’t get how much he loves me. Every once in a while, I understand partially, but I think it would kill me to know exactly how much. As much as I mess up and get things wrong every single day, it’s amazing that He has so much patience with me and love for me!
Jen says
Oh, Jodie, do I ever understand the bit about “funny math!” I can’t even write my Dave Ramsey budget out these days because no matter how hard I try, the numbers don’t add up. I’m just living on faith that when the bills are due, the money will be there. And for 8 months longer than expected, that has been the case. God is faithful! (And I just learned today of a great job opportunity, so if you want to be praying…..)
My verse for this week is Malachi 2:15a- Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring.
This really spoke to me about the kind of family and marriage God wants us to have. We all know about becoming one flesh, but He reminds us here how important it is to be of one spirit as well. Our job as disciples is to share the good news…. starting, in most cases, with our own offspring. Raising kids is hard enouh, but when you think about your kid’s eternity being at stake, the responsibility seems a little bit bigger! Thankfully, God intended for parenting to be a partnership… two people becoming one in flesh and spirit, belonging to Him and raising His children.
Jodie says
That’s an awesome verse, and a sober reminder too. Our responsibility as parents–even as teachers!–is so much greater than we realize. And you will have to keep me posted on the job!
Carol J. Garvin says
I often think of verse 8 when we’re talking about tithing: “When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong?” It reinforces that when we set aside our offerings to God they aren’t meant to be the leftovers, or hand-me-downs, or whatever we figure we don’t want or need. Sacrificial giving doesn’t make sense to the world, but God rewards it.
My MIL told me about when Dad was in hospital years ago, convalescing after a lengthy illness. He mentioned to her that he was always cold. He was wearing his jacket over his hospital gown because he didn’t own a robe and he’d been too embarrassed to pack his threadbare sweater. His pastor’s stipend was meager and there was no money for a new sweater. On the way home from the hospital visit my MIL walked past a clothing store and admired a handsome zippered cardigan priced impossibly high. The very next day, before she left again for the hospital, there was a knock at the door and one of the church members stood there with a bag, apologizing for offering her something second hand. Her husband had received a gift sweater but was allergic to wool and couldn’t wear it. It was brand new and EXACTLY the same sweater as Mom had admired in the store window! The Lord provides. 🙂
Jodie says
AWESOME story! See? Yes, God does provide. And your beautiful story is exactly what I meant when I said it’s not always money that He pours out on us, but something so much better.