There are contrasting opinions when it involves the subject of tithing. Some try to dismiss tithing as an Old Testament under-the-law item that is no longer relevant today. That is unless you are one of those legalistic types who have forgotten that we are under grace and no longer under the law. Yes, sometimes those arguments are valid regarding certain aspects of the Old Testament law. In particular, the ceremonial law included many of the tabernacle and temple offerings, which were done away with in the person of Jesus Christ with his all-sufficient offering of Himself for the atonement of our sins.
But to dismiss something such as the command to tithe just because it was a command announced in the Old Testament would be as ridiculous as dismissing the command not to kill or not to commit adultery because they also were commandments in the Old Testament. Yes, tithing was commanded under the law, but tithing was also very much practiced before the law. Long before Moses was given the Levitical law from God, Abraham tithed. Tithing became a life-changing event in Abraham's life.
Not only was tithing during the law, but it also preceded the law. If one would care to study carefully, there are also pre-Abrahamic instances where there were pictures and typologies of tithing as far back as Cain and Abel, and even the Garden of Eden with creation itself. Still, the purpose of this article is to tell why I tithe today, even thirty-plus years after I first felt the Lord leading our family to trust Him. If you still need to read Part 1, I encourage you to do so.
I had just turned twenty years old and had only been saved a few months. I was married, working hard, attending school, and struggling to make a minimal income stretch further than my calculations said it could. We had a small child, and bills, bills, bills, and in case I forgot to mention it, we had bills to pay. Yet the Lord kept reminding me of the command to tithe. To make a long story short, over the course of three to four months, my wife and I surrendered to the Lord and committed to tithe. Nothing happened immediately except the peace of knowing we were right with God in this area. But over time, we saw and experienced God working.
Malachi tells us that when we tithe, He promises to open the windows of Heaven and rebuke the devourer for our sakes.
"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts." - Malachi 3:10-11
If these were the only promises and information the scriptures had to encourage and command us to give, it would be more than sufficient. But we know that is not the case.
I love hearing testimonies from people when they have experienced God at work in their life. Abraham, for one, is quite a biblical character worth studying. God called out Abraham to leave his homeland in a lifelong pursuit of God and a city, according to Hebrews 11, which had foundations whose builder and maker was God.
"For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." - Hebrews 11:10
Think about this with me! Just as God confronts each of us in the person of the Holy Spirit to tithe. God confronted Abraham in the person of Melchizedek to tithe.
It's intriguing to me that several years passed, literally many years passed, without the promises of God being fulfilled in Abraham's life. But that was not God's fault. Abraham was doing many things right. Yet, according to scripture, Abraham never had a recorded instance where he tithed. That is, until Genesis 14:20.
"And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all." - Genesis 14:20
Open The Windows Of Heaven
Malachi told us that when we tithe, that is, give back to God 10% of all our increase and income, he promises to open the windows of Heaven. In essence, and without much explanation, God gives us wisdom and insight on better managing what he has given.
"And he brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." - Genesis 15:5
When God opened the window of heaven for Abraham, he was revealing, or one might say giving him the insight into his future of what God would do in his life.
God Rebukes The Devourer
He gives supernatural protection to allow what we have left (The remaining 90%) to go further and last longer than you or I could ever make it last.
"After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." - Genesis 15:1
What does the "after these things" in this verse mean? It was right after Abraham tithed. I wish all of our eyes would open to the truth that tithing changes the trajectory of the follower of Christ. Remember how Malachai chapter three taught us that God rebukes the devourer for our sake when we tithe? Genesis 15:1, God said to Abraham, "I am thy shield."
Can I say it this way? "Abraham, I am thy protection, thy defender, the rebuke of that which would attempt to devour you or your substance."
No, God did not need Abraham's money. But Abraham indeed needed God, and so do you and I. Today, I tithe not because God is broke, not because he needs anything I possess, but because I desperately need God, His wisdom, His insights, and His protection.
That day, Abraham's trajectory changed; formerly, his vision had only been earthly (what was around him). On that day, God gave him a heavenly vision. It's been my experience that those who faithfully tithe always have a grander vision of what the Lord is doing and what He wants to do in their life. Whereas those who do not tithe not only struggle financially due to disobedience but also do not receive the two blessings of the windows of heaven being opened and the Lord rebuking the devourer. Simultaneously, as a rule, those who do not tithe almost always possess very little heavenly vision for the kingdom of God.