Whatever Christian: Floodgates

Whatever Christian

Friday, November 27, 2009

Floodgates

"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." Malachi 3:10

According to wordnetweb.princeton.edu, a floodgate is "something that restrains a flood or outpouring." To find the force of the outpour, one must multiply pressure times area. In Malachi, the Lord says that He will throw open the floodgates of heaven. Even if the pressure behind the floodgate of heaven equals just 1 pascal, the area (length times height) of heaven is immeasurable. The area of heaven multiplied by just one is still too big for my mind to fathom. And since the Lord says there will be so much blessing that we will not have room for it, I'm thinking the pressure is more than one.

But the Lord prefaces this promise with a command: "bring the whole tithe." He is commanding us to bring just a portion (10%) of what he's given us. This tithe is just the bare minimum of our giving and yet he tells us to test him and promises to give immeasurable blessing. I started a new job in September and got my first paycheck in October. I have been faithfully tithing 10% of my income, including tips and babysitting money. Pastor Dave preached on God's perspective of wealth and mentioned something called "kingdom investments." These kingdom investments are offerings we give that our beyond our tithe.

I realized that while I'd been faithful in tithing, I was doing the bare minimum. I was positioning myself in a low place, but could do better. By investing in the kingdom, one also positions himself for blessing. And since this is the only time (that I know of) that the Lord says to test Him, I'm pretty sure he's serious about it. I prayed about a certain organization that was on my heart and specifically how much to give. Sixty dollars was the answer. I gave $60 and felt totally excited about it and started praying where I could give next and in what capacity. Less than a week later, I opened my mail to find an unexpected check for $120.24 from my last job, a little more than double of what I gave. I almost starting crying when I thought about the story of the ten talents (Matthew 25:14-28) and how the master said "well done, my good and faithful servant". I realize that $120 is not something to really cry over, but it wasn't the money. My God kept His promise in a very tangible way. The best part was that I wasn't expecting my blessing to be monetary. I didn't give to get. My perspective on wealth is kingdom oriented and I am content with being obedient and my reward storing up in heaven. However, it was really encouraging to have a tangible example of the blessings of the Lord. Where and how are you investing? How are you positioning yourself for blessing?

posted by Carsen @ 10:21 AM

3 Comments:

At November 27, 2009 at 12:09 PM, Kathy Eden said…

Awesome post Carsen! A great reminder to not do just the "miniumum" for God.
At November 29, 2009 at 4:33 PM, Kim said…

Thanks for sharing this. What a great testimony of God's provision and blessings!
At January 14, 2010 at 8:37 PM, Matthew said…

what's actually very strange is that God was speaking to me about tithe about a week ago as well....I believe the chapter was 2 corinthians 9. Then later that week, someone else said something about this in church, preaching on the same section....I always find it interesting when God puts certain verses on the hearts of many at once.