[1]
Isaiah 25:1 King James Version
25 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Alan[2] phoned me the other day and told me he had reached a low spot in his finances. “I have reached the end of my finances. I owe $100 tithe. If I pay the tithe, I will have nothing to live on for the next two weeks. What shall I do?” He was experiencing a major crisis of faith as well as finances. He has been paying tithe for the better part of a year, and all has gone well. Now he was completely at the end of his rope.
Immediately I thought, “Been there—done that!” I didn’t say that of course. But my life flashed before me in an instant. I remembered our second year as missionaries in Tanzania, 1968. The mission organization had miscalculated my salary the during 1967 and wrote me that they were going to have to take it out of this year’s salary. “We know you will need some money to live on, so we will send you $20 a month so you have some cash.” Even in Africa, that was a mere slap in the face. Yet God came through beautifully.
Years later, at Helderberg College in South Africa, the organization had forgotten to take out our U. S. Social Security tax for two years. It was calculated on what our salary would have been in the States. In Africa our salary was roughly a quarter of that. So when they took out the equivalent of 3 years SS tax, it left us very little to live on. Besides that, the country was experiencing double digit inflation, and we received no cost-of-living adjustments. But, true to God’s promises, we came through debt free. Then God organized, against our desires, for us to transfer to the States. That definitely turned out to be the best move for us at the time.
In the States we have been essentially a one salary family. Throughout our whole married life—58 years in June, we have tithed our income. Most of the time we have tithed after taxes. I have reasoned that my taxes go to finance various wars including Afghanistan and Iraq, support for unwed mothers, and welfare for people who choose not to work; so, I could not, with a clear conscience, count that as “increase”.[3] Even in the States I have seen our bank balance come down to less than $10. God has always stepped in—sometimes at the very last minute—to help us.
Now that we are retired, we are living very well. When I get concerned about what will happen to us if runaway inflation destroys our savings, I remind myself that God has never let us go hungry or without a home to live in. He will see us through.
I reminded Alan that in Malachi 3:10 God has urged us to “Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things.”[4] If he chose not to tithe, God would understand, but if he chose to pay his tithe and trust God, he would experience a great thrill as God rewards his faith. This is the only point in our Christian experience where God urges us to test him!
Lord, thank You for challenging us to test You. And thank You for coming through time and again for us, often in the nick of time.
[1] https://thechurchadmin.com/do-church-members-have-to-tithe/
[2] I have changed the name and circumstances, but the experience is very real and happened within the week of this writing.
[3] Deuteronomy 14:22 (KJV) Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.
[4] Today’s English Version (1982)
He always provides if we put our trust in Him and not ourselves.
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