449. Pour Out a Blessing
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.
This is the classical conditional promise in the Bible: if you u bring all the tithes, then the Lord will pour out blessings from the open windows of heaven. In other words, God will repay you for what you give to Him. The more you give to the Lord the more you will receive in blessing. Opening the windows of heaven is a metaphor for rain. Rain is viewed as the means for producing crops and the abundant material blessings of a good harvest. Rain is like money in an agricultural economy. Everything depends on rain.
God says, “You withhold from Me, I will withhold from you.” “You give liberally to me, and I will give liberally to you.” This may not be mathematically provable, but the principle should hold true if we believe the Word of God. The blessings God will pour out may not always be money and material goods, but He does promise abundant blessings, however He wants to measure them. Is there a direct correlation between how much we give to the Lord’s work and how much we receive in material blessings? We can’t prove it, but we can believe it. God will pour out blessing if we bring in the tithe. A tithe is 10% in OT terms. The NT era of grace would seem to indicate more than 10% since we have received such vast riches from God’s grace and glory. What you give to God you won’t miss. The Lord always has ways of providing what we need and more than we need. You won’t lose what you entrust to the Lord. At the least, God promises treasures in heaven. Of this we can be certain.
We do not tithe expecting reward, but we give generously trusting God to provide. We give out of thankfulness. It is all of God and all of grace. Grace is expensive and generous. “Freely ye have received; freely give.”