After a phone conversation with a commenter on this blog, I think it’s time to dissect Malachi 3:10
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
There are some misconceptions about this verse that need to be clarified.
Misconception #1: Malachi 3:10 Is the Tithing Test
If you read Malachi 3:10 correctly, there is no tithe challenge. Tithing had already been commanded and God was not trying to encourage or challenge the Israelites to do what He already expected them to do. He was not trying to pander to their ego either by making this some sort of thrilling dare. If you understand the passage correctly it reads – “Test Me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven”. Because God stated, “Test Me“, He was placing himself under scrutiny, not tithing. But, once again, our humanism has defaulted to making our good works as the focus in this passage instead of God’s works.
Misconception #2: This was the only time God allowed us to tempt God.
Our minds flashback to Matthew 4:7 when Jesus said, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'” Malachi 3:10 was not a once-in-a-lifetime, free pass to be mischievous in attempting to challenge God’s authority. Most of us are deceived into believing that tithing is the only time in the bible God is allowing us to tempt him. The truth is, God’s promises are put to the test every day. Relying on any of God’s promises is a test of faith, not a devilish temptation.
If I promised my children a $100 bill for a report card with all “A’s”, who would think it’s unique or astounding that I challenged them to test and see if my promise is true? No one would. The only reason why there are those putting so much emphasis on this occasion is that they are grasping at anything that makes tithing so extraordinary that it cannot be dismissed by something even as powerful as the cross, spiritual rebirth, or a new covenant.
Misconception #3: The Church is the Storehouse
This is a simple concept to grasp and yet so many experienced, learned theologians get this misconception wrong. Nonetheless, I will try to make it even easier for us all to understand. If a storehouse stores something, what exactly is the Church storing? Maybe. . . just maybe . . . the church isn’t a storehouse. Maybe . . . just maybe . . . Jesus tried to answer this question in Matthew 6:20 when he said, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven“. Another question you could ask yourself is where does your church store its offerings? I would venture to say that it’s where most people store their money – in a bank. There is no correlation between a storehouse and the Church anywhere in scripture.
Scripture is trying to correlate the storehouse with our eternal home where we store up treasures in heaven. On the other hand, most of us know that the temple correlates to our body as stated in 1 Corinthians 6:19 – do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?
So plain and simple here – The Old Testament storehouse is pictorial of heaven and the temple is pictorial of our body. This eliminates the Church as the storehouse.
Misconception #4: Having Food in God’s House Means Having the Word of God
Yes, there are many verses that describe God’s word as water, honey, meat, and bread; but in this instance, God literally wanted ‘food’ in the storehouse. The storehouse was not a place where God’s Word was read. It was a silo not a place of worship. There needed to be real food in the temple storehouse because of the physical needs of the priests and the poor. Since it was the priests and the poor who actually ate the meat in God’s house, is it fair to say that pastors and the poor are the only ones who get to hear the word of God today?
Still today it is true that there needs to be food in God’s house. The principle is that we need to take care of the needs of those serving and the poor. There is no correlation between the food in the temple storehouse with the word of God in the Church today. This interpretation should be taken literally not figuratively.
Those misconceptions are the ones by which people are being overburdened,against which the apostles resolved in Acts 15:1-20.
Thank you .I agree with you 100%.
May God Bless you.
To challenge misconception #1, you are focusing on the statement “Try Me…” am I right?
The passage does say “Try Me…” but that isn’t all. The complete statement is “Try me now in this.” The preposition “…In this” must have been pertaining to what the previous phrase stated “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house” which is presumably about man’s act in tithing. So this, still presumably, must mean that God is putting both himself and man’s act of tithing in scrutiny, and thus reassuring man that tithing will lead to God’s blessing.
This, sir, is only a challenge, not a disagreement. I am speaking presumably based on what is written in the said passage, making my opinions imperfect. Hence, my opinions are open for correction, but with satisfying implications and explanations of course. Why? because I am a curious soul.
You have made a good case, too bad you did not receive a reply.
what happens when u can’t keep tithing anymore due to life’s cost and a growing family, but you were faithful in tithing and giving, but don’t can’t go on anymore because you find it is an unsustainable practise due to the demands But there seems to be no increase or income to ensure your giving is sustained???
That’s where Faith in God comes in my friend. My wife and I found ourselves in that same situation. And at one point in time found it difficult to give, due to the same circumstances of life. But if you remain faithful in giving, he promises that he will never leave nor forsake, and that he is our great provider. You are not alone, and let me just encourage you my family, extended family are living testimonies that if you keep giving he will provide, no matter how dire your financial situation is.
regardless of what you or I think the scripture means God does bless us for tithing, it is a fact that when you give to Him he gives back in increase , I have experienced this both in personal finance and business , the best time to give is when you don’t have it to give because your giving more regardless the amount . tithing is key to success , when times get hard for me I know I’m not giving enough. we can’t out give God , if your still struggling and have been tithing it may be because your doubting , faith is what its all about you must believe when you give that He will provide for you , if your giving and then questioning whether you should or have regret your robbing yourself of his blessings.
give till it hurts and trust Him with all and you will prevail.
Craig,
You think God blesses you on tithing because you are human. You only experience the physical: what you can see and what you can touch. if your statement was true then God should bless a tither who only tithes to get rich; or God should bless a reluctant, non-cheerful tither just because he cut a check, or that God should bless a billionaire because he gave his chump change each year.
God blesses people on the amount of faith, not on a percentage of physical currency that comes out of a wallet. Even though i am against the enforcement of tithing, this is why i’ve stated multiple times that God can bless a tither and a non-tither because he judges by a spiritual scale, not a physical one.
Yes. i believe God dishonors the enforcement of tithing; but because of His grace, He can overlook this distracting behavior, and judge us with perfect justice. Even though a tither is practicing the wrong doctrine, it’s great that God can still bless a faithful giver. God can see past our facade and peer into the part that truly matters.
Faith is spelt RISK. Gods challenge is to test him on this, and he looks at our heart.
As a 19 year old, the church I was attending did have a sermon on tithing. I wasn’t earning a great deal and Mum took a fair chunk for board and keep, and there were all the excuses but something touched my heart and I decided to tithe 5% of my income.
I did not expect anything in return only to honour him. The very next week, my firm gave me an unexpected pay rise, not only a pay rise but a double increment. I jumped up 2 pay steps!
I am an old man now (64) but I know God is faithful. A few years ago, my wife and I sacrificed to take time to go on a mission trip to help build a school hall in the Solomon islands, we poured more time and money into the project that we cared to telly up. Taking time off work etc, yet at the end of that year instead of suffering loss, it was like the windows of heaven had been opened and our business had an outstandingly profitable year. It was hard to pinpoint it, costs were down, work turn over was up and God came through on his promise in Malachi.
At Church last Sunday, a university student related how he had $18 in his pocket and a $180 bill to pay the next week. He had it on his heart to tithe the $18 which he struggled a bit with but did. The next Monday his mum who lives out of town popped down to see him with soap and food etc. and also an envelope that he initially did not think much of and set on one side until his mum insisted that he open it. Inside was $200, enough to not only cover his $180 debt but to reimburse him is $18 plus $2 profit! His mum told him that a lady had turned up on her door step the Saturday before the Sunday meeting where he tithed his $18 and told his mum that God had told her to give him that amount as he needed it!!!
Then there was the guy in about the 17th or 18th century in England who set up orphanages purely on faith without any money. One day he had about 150 hungry kids and no food. He got them to all sit down and said grace thanking God for the food. Just then there was a knock on the door and it was the local baker with a waggon load of bread!
More recently Heidi Baker in Africa was running an orphanage and was told by the local army to leave promptly as it was not safe for Europeans as the rebels were in the area and likely to single them out. They had to flee on foot leaving the African children and walk about 40 miles to a friends house.
When they got there all the friend had was a pot of stew and 6 plastic plates. They were about to eat when they noticed that the children had followed then and about 100 orphans were standing outside.
Heidi baker directed her friend to please feed the children first and she did, all 100 odd of them out of one small pot of stew, and the adults as well. When they had finished the stew was all gone but 106 plastic plates remained!!
Our God is a BIG GOD far more capable of anything we can possibly dream or imagine.
I am an Civil Engineer living in New Zealand, I volunteered to assist Civil Defence following the Christchurch earthquakes and stayed on to help rebuild the city. I was up and down between home and Christchurch and got a bit sick of it after a while. On going up one time we stayed in a hotel near the air port and I broke the good news to my wife that I thought we should move permanently to Christchurch or “Shake Central” with earthquakes still going on. It was not every wife’s dream. She was very good and did not kill me!, but said “lets pray about it” and we did. We told God that we wanted clear direction whether he wanted us to go to Christchurch, stay in our home town or go anywhere else in the world. No mucking about God, we wanted clear direction! I got up, paced around the Hotel room and picked up the Gideon Bible that was sitting in a corner, flicked to open at random and stabbed at it with my finger, hitting the verse Daniel 9:18. Daniel was crying out to the Lord; “Lord consider the destitution of your people (The people of Christchurch were destitute) but the second part of the verse still gives me goose bumps, “and the city of your name!”.
We were obedient and left for Christchurch leaving behind our home, church, grand children, business and friends, with no home to go to and to a city still shaking! But we were faithful and have been richly blessed!
I prayed one day for a house; 1. As nice as we had up north for my wife’s sake. 2. Handy to the centre of town where my work was, 3. Four bedrooms for friends family and hospitality 4. a decent sized family room as an office as the town centre was wrecked. 5. Three but preferably 6 car garaging as I’m into my vintage cars, and last but not least,6. super cheep!
No sooner had I prayed that a little voice spoke in my head and told me to “look for a section where the house was written off”. I did and we ended up with a lovely home that ticked all the boxes including the three garages (he didn’t spring to 6, probably thought I was a bit greedy!) I bought it for land value plus the cost of chattels and was able to fix it, all complete for under half price! The lady got full pay-out on the house from the insurers but needed to sell the land to build elsewhere, The insurers were thrilled as they did not have to pay to bulldoze it. and I was wrapped as I had a fantastic house, which I fixed and is now approved by council at less than half its value.
Not only that, the seller was so happy to sell the land to me when no one else was buying she told the whole street and we ended up buying two more same deal which I fixed being an engineer and now rent out making an income and assisting with the housing shortage in Christchurch “helping the destitute and to rebuild the city of his name!”
We are about to buy our other neigbour’s home, similar deal bringing to 5 quality Christchurch homes that we and the Bank will own.
Never in our wildest dreams did I ever imagine we would own 5 such lovely homes. In fact when we got engaged, I told my wife that I did not think I would ever be able to buy her a home. Her response was; “That is alright, I would be happy with you in a tent!” I am one lucky super blessed guy.
I have a God who loves me and keeps his promises, far beyond what you can possibly imagine.
Test him in this. Step out in Faith spelt RISK to honour him and do his will, diligently seeking him. Obedience is greater than sacrifice.
God knows the plans he has for you, plans for good and not for harm.
What an an encouraging testimony!
I love the fact the God’s HANDS are so much BIgger than ours!
What a mighty God we serve!
All the Glory belongs to HIM!
so encouraging, I’ve had some challenges a while now and God has been laying it in my heart to tithe, came online to build up my faith and know more about what God meant when he said to prove him, I thank God for your testimony and directing me here.
Are you a christian ? I’ve never heard that tithing hurt anyone financially. Just the opposite supernatural blessings
Just tithe as much as you can and keep yourself walking in the path if Christ and the Lord will provide.
Don’t stop giving. I and my husband been there and some times still are. But God has brought us though him making 8:50 an hour and paying 800.00 dollar a month house payment and other bill. Than loosing 8 jobs one after another. Wow and God has blessed us to pay tithes. We at one point stop and felt the pain and now we know better. Do it and God will bless.
Here’s where I stand on the whole issue. My wife and I have been tithing 10% (tithe) from the “firstfruits” (before tax gross income) for most of our 22 year relationship.
I am not going to encourage or discourage anyone from tithing/offering according to what is on their heart or what their personal convictions are.
But I will say this, I have “tested” the lord in this and I have never experienced a blessing so great that I couldn’t contain it. I have actually watched my savings drop and drop and drop until I really have no cushion at all. I keep tithing out of the desire to be obedient in the way i’ve been taught regarding giving but sometimes I ask God if he really requires us to tithe? Or whether he intends on supernaturally intervening in our finances at all? Or is it that he maybe wants his people to have no savings at all so we trust in him?
I will continue to tithe 10% of the gross as long as I can but it’s hard to tithe between $450-$600 per month when I may not even have gas money. I keep seeing websites saying that compulsory tithing is not required of the new testament church but I just don’t know.
What I do know is that I am very unsure of whether God has any interest in our Earthly financial condition.
Just being honest.
I personally believe that God has almost no concern of our earthly finances as we need to invest spiritually, not physically. This earth will come and go. This earth was never meant to last, thus earthly concerns should be of little concern comoared to the eternal afterlife.
I’m surprised all these people that say they tithe but has not had a supernatural blessing. Every time I tithe consistently I receive huge financial blessings or new better paying job. Are you baptised, do you tithe in faith and joyfully? God has not failed His Word yet, but that’s my personal experience.
God is the owner of all things in this world and he has all the control over them.God is concerned with both our spiritual and physical well-being that is why he has given us promises.He is not human that he should lie. We have to be obedient and patient he will do what he says he will do
Does tithe mean money or everything? I think Churches sometimes make the mistake to only associate Tithe with dollars. I think it is so much more! Do we give our God a tenth of everything?
If we could only peel back the supernatural veil and see how God and His angel armies are really fighting for us! Oh how we would all look at things differently!
Malachi 3:10
“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.”
No where in this scripture does it say test or try me
Your reading from the wrong BIBLE. So misconception #1 is totally wrong, it is not even the correct wording, and wording is important
Obedient is better than sacrifice…
If a person does not fully understand why Jesus would say “It is more blessed to give than receive” then he will never understand the economy of the Kingdom. Nor will he find full satisfaction in tithing.