By Staff
The Bible is a thick book. Preachers are myriad; sermons seem endless. We can think of nothing more enjoyable than being truly blessed by God, but do you ever feel like you have to have all your ducks in a row?
Most of us cannot even find our ducks, much less get them all in a row. The result is we grow to believe having the blessing of God is a journey so long and so difficult that we stop seeking Him and His blessing and settle for the best we can do.
Searching out every way to be blessed by God is a lifelong process. "The Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (James 5:11). Moses declares of God in Deuteronomy, chapter 28, verse 2, "All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God." God is so intent on blessing that He seeks every opportunity and will chase us down to pour blessing on us as we obey Him.
For many of us, our concept of God is much different. We think of Him as distant, demanding, severe, and arbitrary. While God is pursuing us, we either passively neglect His advances or actively reject Him.
God is creator, giver of life. He is the source of all things. Everything we have is His, came from Him, and will go back to Him. We have difficulty grasping the truth that everything we have is from God, and that He always blesses His people, sometimes materially.
When God's material provision comes our way, we tend to grasp, collect, hoard, and indulge, rather than honor God with what He gives us by giving.
When the Old Testament prophet Isaiah spoke for God to the people of Judah in Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 17, he said, "Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow." This was certainly not the whole case against Judah, but God was rebuking their selfishness. God makes it clear that the stranger (Hebrews 13:2), the hired person (Colossians 4:1), the poor (Deuteronomy 15:7-8), the fatherless (Psalm 82:3-4), and the widow (Psalm 146:9) are close to His heart and should be regarded and cared for by us.
The path to God's blessing is neither arduous nor mysterious; it is plain. In the days of Malachi the prophet, the people of Israel had been restored to their land from Babylonian exile. Even with the memory of God's judgment fresh in their minds, they continued to dishonor God in their everyday affairs.
Malachi spoke for God in Malachi, chapter 3, verse 7, "Return to Me, and I will return to you." God yearned for the people to simply trust, obey, and reap the blessing of God. It is certain that God had many things He could have brought up to challenge the people, but He specifically cited one issue in this passage: giving.
God simply said in verse 10 of Malachi 3, "Tithe." Give Me a tenth of what you have, "that there may be food in My house." God could have rained food from heaven or produced food in His house in many ways, but He wanted the people to repent and start giving.
God continued by issuing a challenge and giving a promise. He said, "try Me now in this" (Malachi 3:10). Can you hear the plea in God's voice as He challenges them to trust Him? The promise is that God will "open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10). In our thinking, we limit this blessing to material goods, but God promised to literally open up heaven and pour out such goodness and blessing on them that they would be overwhelmed.
Seem too short and simple? The challenge and the promise are still there. God continued the promise by declaring in verse 11, "I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes." What is the devourer? It is whatever is eroding our lives in any manner.
We will not find a better life anywhere. Trust Him.