“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
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you feel about taking a test? A test can be a way to find out if a guy, gal or kid knows something, can do something and/or will do something that he or she has been asked to do. Do you test your dad and/or ma to find out if they will really punish you if you do something that they have told you not to do? Do you test your teacher to find out if he or she will really fail you if you deliberately do not answer correctly the questions on a test that he or she has you take? A test is a way or an indicator to find out what kids – like you, know and do not know, can do and cannot do and will do and will not do. To have your dad and/or ma test you is a good thing. To have your teacher test you is a good thing. To have God test you is a good thing. What happens when you test your dad and/or ma by disobeying them by not doing something that they have asked you to do? What happens when you test your teacher by misbehaving in his or her class? What happens when you test God by ignoring what He has asked you to do? Does your dad and/or ma make you go to your room or have you sit in a chair facing the corner of a room after you have disobeyed him, her or them by not doing something that he, she or they have asked you not do? Does your teacher give you demerits or keep you going to the playground after you have misbehaved in his or her class? Does God stop blessing you after you have ignored what He has explicitly told you what He expects you to do to reflect His glory back to him? The Malachi Book is the Old Testament’s last book. Malachi’s name means my messenger. As a messenger of God, Malachi was given very specific messages from God that God wanted him to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals. Malachi 3 has in it a couple of important messages that God – as God the Spirit, breathed on Malachi for Malachi to pass on to God’s specially chosen guys and gals for them to accept as absolute truth. Malachi scribed what became the Malachi Book at least 400 years before one of these two very important God-given messages or promises took place. God – as God the Spirit, had Malachi scribe about a guy who would be born one day who would be another messenger or forerunner who would prepare the way for God to live and walk on planet Earth as God the Son. The guy who was born as a messenger or forerunner at least 400 years after Malachi scribed in what would become the Malachi Book was John the Baptist.
The second important message that God – as God the Spirit, breathed on Malachi for him to scribe in his Malachi Book was His expectations of His specially chosen guys and gals that they would take their tithes and offerings to His storehouse – the storehouse being the temple that God’s specially chosen guys had built for His presence to reside in in the city of Jerusalem. Verse 10 says, “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.” What Malachi scribed right before this verse is very explicit about any guy who does not take his tithes and offerings to God’s ‘storehouse’. The preceding words that Malachi scribed says that any guy who does not take his tithes and offerings to God’s ‘storehouse’ is robbing God. God – as God the Spirit, also had Malachi write down what happens when God’s specially chosen guys fail this test that God – as God the Father, is testing them with – that they bring their tithes and offerings to Him in His ‘storehouse’ – the temple that His specially chosen guys had expressly built for His presence to reside in in the city of Jerusalem. God – as God the Spirit, had Malachi scribe a promise that if God’s specially chosen guys and gals were to bring their tithes and offerings to the ‘storehouse’ that was located in the city of Jerusalem that God – as God the Father, would open the floodgates in heaven so that there would be more than sufficient rain for their crops, that He would keep the pests away from their fields and that He would keep the fruit from falling off to the ground. God indisputably challenged His specially chosen guys and gals through Malachi His messenger that if they would just test Him by doing what He was asking them to do – which was to take their tithes and offerings to His ‘storehouse’, that He would richly bless them and that the people groups of guys and gals who were living near them would see that they were being richly blessed by Him.
Your grandpaa calls money an available commodity. Money is never a means to an end. Money is a resource for life survival. God distributes money as He desires to do so. God allows for the misuse of money. God makes money available to be used as recompense or remuneration for services that are rendered. God uses money as a reward blessing for the guys and gals who have become His specially elected guys and gals who give back to Him at least a tithe or ten percent of what He has given to them. Do you always give back to God a tithe or ten percent of all the monies that He has given to you? Your grandmaa and grandpaa began tithing when they were attending the Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Your grandmaa and grandpaa did not know how they would be able to pay their bills if they tithed as . . . even though your grandmaa was a stay at home ma, God blessed your grandmaa and grandpaa just like He said that He would. If your dad and ma are giving you a weekly allowance, your grandmaa and grandpaa would like to encourage you to begin tithing from what your dad and ma give to you. If your dad and ma give you a dollar as a weekly allowance and if you give ten cents back to God from this dollar by putting a dime aside as offering to Him, God will know and you will sense being blessed.
Malachi 3 (556)