Giving and Divine Provision

As you know, our annual missions month begins today.

We observe that every year in the month of November. And it is a time to consider the work of worldwide evangelism, the work of sending messengers to the ends of the earth, and the part that we have in partnership with those who go and to consider the possibility of the Lord's call upon our lives in regard to going, for the Lord does call out His servants and send them according to His sovereign purposes. It is also a time when we are challenged to evaluate our giving to the Lord, because the work of the Lord is carried on by the giving of His people, both at home and abroad. And so we consider worldwide evangelism during missions month.

That's certainly a worthy goal for us to be considering. But we also consider what is often called our stewardship, our own financial stewardship. Stewardship is a much bigger word than just money, but it is part. Stewardship before the Lord. And the Faith Promise Program that we've been involved with for more than 30 years, quite a few more than 30 years, I think more than 40 years, has proved to be a very helpful vehicle, helpful in raising money to help missionaries get to the field, but I think far more helpful in challenging God's people and teaching us more of what it means to trust the Lord with our lives and with our needs and with our giving. And that really is my purpose today and our purpose throughout the month of November. And so you will be familiarizing yourself with our Faith Promise Missions Card.

It looks like this. It has some things for you to consider and to fill out. There's no place for a signature. You are not asked to sign it. It is really not a binding commitment between you and us. It is a prayerful commitment between you and the Lord. It is private and that is our purpose. And yet by turning it in, it enables us to calculate the amounts that are proposed to be given and to construct our mission's budget accordingly. And by turning it in, I think it also makes it a more serious endeavor, a more serious consideration on your part. It's one thing to consider matters privately before the Lord. It's another matter to consider them seriously, privately but seriously before the Lord.

And so this enables us to take this matter very seriously. And to prompt our thinking in that direction, we are turning today to 1 Kings 17 and considering two episodes from the life of Elijah in the Old Testament, which are wonderful examples of God's faithful provision for His children. God provided for him there. Number 2, Elijah's sojourn to Zarephath in Tyre and Sidon and how God provided for him there. I draw out of these at least three emphases and they are number 1, that God uses living creatures to care for His children. Number 2, God uses other people to care for His children. And then number 3, God uses the elements of nature to care for His children.

And actually that third one also is evident in the first narrative, but we'll see that in a moment. But God uses living creatures to care for His children. And we start in verse 1 of chapter 17 by being reminded that God controls the weather. God controls the weather. And Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years.

He doesn't tell us there how many years, it turns out to be about three and a half, but He indicates it's going to be a good long while. Neither dew nor rain these years except at My word, says Elijah the prophet of God. God controls the weather. 1 Kings chapter 17 opens with a very sudden and unexpected appearance of a man by the name of Elijah who bursts upon the scene of what is going on in the land of Israel almost like dropping out of the sky. Obviously he didn't, but that's what it appears because there is no prior introduction. We're reading along in the history of Israel and of Judah back and forth, this king of Israel, that king of Judah, back and forth, back and forth. And suddenly in chapter 17, this man Elijah appears seemingly out of nowhere and walks right into the royal palace of Ahab and marches up to the throne of Ahab and makes this startling announcement, there will be no rain, no dew until I say so.

And he turned on his heels and walked back out. And this man Elijah, his name means Jehovah or Yahweh is my God. Either his parents gave him that name, committing him to the Lord and trusting the Lord to use him as a messenger of Jehovah, or he adopted a new name along the way to identify himself as a messenger of God, but Elijah, Yahweh is my God. He's also identified as the Tishbite and that turns our attention to a little village in Gilead by the name of Tishbi where Elijah came from. It is in Gilead, which is a territory across the Jordan on the eastern side that was settled by two and a half of the tribes of Israel, Gad and Manasseh and I forget the third one, the half tribe of Manasseh. And in the part of Gilead, the part around Tishbi, that would have been either Gad or Manasseh and so we surmise that Elijah was probably from one of those two tribes, though there are some that think that he had relocated to Gilead from Galilee. You will notice in verse one it says that he was of the inhabitants of Gilead, but some of your translations say that he was of the settlers of Gilead, which may indicate that he had moved to Gilead and settled there. It was not the place of his birth.

We really do not know. But we do know that he walked the distance from Gilead on the east side of Jordan, across the Jordan River, onto the capital, the city of Samaria, the capital of Israel, into the presence of King Ahab and made this announcement that there would be no more rain, no more dew even on the ground until he said so. Who was Ahab? Well, Ahab, of course, was the notoriously wicked king of Israel.

We're told just a few verses prior to chapter 17 that he was more wicked than any king up until his day that had ruled in the nation of Israel. He did a lot of things that were contrary to the word of God and seemed to do so boldly and deliberately, audaciously, and probably the worst thing of all was he married Jezebel from Tyre and Sidon, who was a worshiper of Baal and promoted the worship of Baal vigorously in Israel. But who was Baal? Baal was a rather well-known god, the many gods that were worshipped in the area around Israel. Baal was a fertility god, which meant that it was thought that Baal controlled the rain and the crops and the multiplication of herds, the ability of your flocks to have more animals, and Baal was thought to control all these things.

Do you see the irony of all of this? Marching into the palace of Ahab and telling him that God says there'll be no more rain until I, the prophet of Jehovah, the one who says that Yahweh is my god, until I say so. You can pray and cry to Baal all you want. Let's see how much control Baal has over these things. But the truth of the matter is, Baal doesn't control the weather, Baal doesn't control the rain, Baal doesn't control anything. God Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob does.

That's the message that they need to hear. And so Elijah announced this startling pronouncement from God, boldly representing God, as the Lord God of Israel lives, in contrast with Baal, who's a fake and doesn't live at all. Now the judgment that Elijah pronounced was in keeping with scripture that had been given earlier.

I could cite a number of references, but I will confine myself to one if I can put my hands on it. I don't seem to have it in front of me, so I will turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28, one of several similar references that tell us that withholding of grain was one of the judgments that God promised would come because of disobedience. Deuteronomy 28, verse 15, But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today, Moses speaking this message from God, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you, a number of them are listed, and then drop down to verse 23, and your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron, and the Lord will change the reign of your land to powder and dust, from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

So not only does God control the weather, but God uses weather to arrest the attention of people to who is in charge and who they ought to be paying attention to. Elijah announces this to Ahab because the king had authority to call the nation to repentance if he would, he didn't of course. We find other kings who did that at various times in the Old Testament scriptures.

Calling upon the nation to call upon God, to repent of their sins, to demonstrate their remorse for their disobedience to God. The king had the authority to do that. He couldn't change hearts, but he could call upon people to ask God to change their hearts. And so Elijah walks in and calls upon Ahab to do that and pronounces this judgment that comes upon those who have willfully and persistently disobeyed him over a period of time, which certainly is true. But the very fact that Elijah could come into the presence of Ahab in this way implies that he was known to Ahab and to his court. He may drop out of nowhere as far as the biblical record is concerned, but can you imagine a stranger traveling across many miles, arriving in his dusty clothes and saying, I would like to talk to the king and they would say, who are you and why should we let you into the king? Unless, unless they knew who he was and they knew that Ahab needed to hear whatever he had to say.

That's my speculation. But it does seem to me that there is a prior history that is not recorded in scripture. But God does control the weather. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew five in the Sermon on the Mount? But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your father in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. God is gracious. Yes, God controls the weather, but God graciously sends favorable seasons, favorable weather upon people who don't deserve it. In reality, none of us deserve God's blessings, but people who willfully and notoriously don't deserve it because of their rebellion against God. And yet God just graciously goes on sending rain and sunshine and crops year after year on the just and the unjust on the evil and on the good. But there are times when God says, all right, I'm going to send the drought.

I'm going to send some calamitous weather event. And this is a message. This is a warning. You need to listen to me. You need to stop and take stock of yourself. You need to think about what you are doing. You need to think about your relationship to God Almighty, who controls everything, who rules heaven and earth and the one who controls the weather. If we had read other verses out of Deuteronomy, we would have found out that other judgments that God sends to those who disobey him include sending pestilence.

That's disease. I have often prayed. That God would cause this outbreak of COVID to bring people to repentance, to soften hearts, to humble us, to cause us to look to God, to ask him for deliverance.

I haven't seen much evidence of that yet. There seems to have been this calamity, this episode set by God, and it seems to just be ignored. We can handle that. We can handle that.

Thousands die, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands die, but we can handle that. We can take care of it. We can make vaccines. We can do this. We can do that.

We can take care of this. I wonder what else God will have to send to get our attention, to convince us that we need God. We need to worship the one who truly controls these things. God controls the weather. God controls hurricanes. God controls floods. God controls tornadoes. God controls diseases. God controls everything.

God is sovereign ruler over all. Let us acknowledge that and bow humbly before him. And then after that announcement, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, a phrase you find often throughout the Old Testament. You find it here in verse two and again in another place in this same passage I read. But then the word of the Lord came to him saying, I would urge you when you read your Old Testament to just make note of how many times you read that phrase or something similar. The word of the Lord came to him saying, or the Lord, sometimes the word of the Lord came to me saying, writes the prophet. Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to me saying, or the word of the Lord came to him, Elijah saying.

And the word of the Lord came to him saying, and he said, go back east, go back across the Jordan River to the brook Cherith. You'll excuse me if I pronounce it that way. I know that's not correct. It really should be pronounced Keirith, but it doesn't look that way in my Bible. Looks like Cherith. And we didn't name our second daughter, Keirith, we named her Cherith, so you'll permit me to say Cherith.

Go across the river to the brook Cherith. And there I have commanded the ravens to feed you. What? I can just hear if you or I had received a message like that from God.

I can just see the questions rising, wait, wait, wait, wait, don't stop there, God. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Go to a little brook, it's so small that you can't even find it on a map because it is undoubtedly a wadi. That's the name of the little streams in the land of Israel that didn't run all year long because they dried up in the dry season.

They only ran during the rainy season. So go to this little wadi that even under the best of conditions doesn't last all year long. And there I'm going to take care of you. You can drink water out of the brook and I'm commanding the ravens to feed you. Ravens, Lord, if you'd be pleased, I'd rather have another provision than that one.

Ravens, birds of prey, the kind of birds that swoop down and pick apart dead animals. Ravens, you're sending ravens to feed me? I would even have to wonder about the safety of this food, the sanitation of this food. I mean, Lord, really now?

Are you really asking me to go there and eat food like this? But there's not any indication that Elijah hesitated or questioned. He just went obediently right to the place where God sent him.

And sure enough, every morning and every evening the ravens came right on schedule. Where did they get the food? We do not know. What kind of food did they bring?

We do not know. How did it come packaged? Was it in sanitized bags? I don't think so. Was it dangerous?

No. Why? Because God provided it. Because Elijah ate what God told him to do.

He was perfectly safe under those conditions. And he knew that. What God promised, God fulfilled. He said, I'm sending you. And Elijah believed and obeyed. And there he sat by the brook chair.

That might have been another objection he could have raised. But God, if you'll take care of me in another way, I can continue preaching. I can continue pronouncing judgments. I can continue my ministry to the nation of Israel. But you're sending me to the brook chair so that I'm just going to what?

Sit and twiddle my thumbs and tell, yep, that's what you're going to do. Why, Lord? Because that's what I have planned for you. Lord, you can be most useful doing what I design for you. And if I have determined that this is a period of waiting, then honor me by waiting obediently and waiting uncomplainingly and waiting in faith and trust that this is your plan for my life for now. And this is good. Not bad. This is good for now.

That you are doing things that I cannot detect, but this is what you have designed for me now. In times like this, we honor the Lord just as much by waiting without complaining, as we do at other times, being busy and industrious in working and doing for the Lord. And sure enough, what God promised, he fulfilled. God keeps his word. We can believe him. We can trust him.

And when we do, we can experience him. We can learn that he is trustworthy. The ravens not only ministered to Elijah's body, but they ministered to his faith. They strengthened his body. They strengthened his faith.

It was good for Elijah. But God uses, we learn by this, both what we might call normal as well as abnormal means to provide for his children. Sometimes we think the only way God can provide for me is by giving me a good job. That's it. Let me work and earn my living.

Just give me a good job to make that possible. Lord, that's the way you do it. But God has other ways of taking care of us. We don't know what they may be, but he can use the normal circumstances of life, the normal processes of life, the normal provisions of life. But he can also use the amazingly abnormal things of life, like ravens feeding his prophet. But here it is.

That's exactly what God did. But a few weeks or months went by, and that little brook cherith, each day Elijah could tell it's getting a little lower, a little lower. The stream is not as wide.

It's not as broad. There's not as much water in it today as there was yesterday. And one day he woke up and it's gone. No water. Elijah wasn't stupid. He realized it doesn't matter how much food the ravens bring, if there's no water, I cannot survive.

That water is more critical than the food, at least for the first few days. Lord, how can this be? You sent me here and now it's dried up? God, perform a miracle. Cause this brook to run again. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. As Moses smote the rock and the water gushed out, O Lord, smite the ground that brook cherith may flow again.

No, didn't happen. And again, don't you see the lesson? The very things that God brings into our life as his provisions, he sometimes removes and that's as much his doing as was the provision in the first place. God provided the brook. God withdrew the brook.

It was God who provided it. It was God who withdrew it using the normal means, namely drought. It didn't rain.

The brook got dry. The rain affected everybody else, but it affected God's people too. The rain was judgment upon rebellious and disbelieving and sinful Israel.

And yet it also, the consequences of that judgment also touched Elijah and the other people of God as well. Don't think that you ought to be protected from the normal calamities of life. God hasn't told you that you won't experience them, but God has told you that he'll take care of you in the midst of them.

That's the difference between you and those who don't trust the Lord. Others have calamities and they have no resource. You have the very same calamities, but you have God, Almighty God, who controls all things. What do you have to fear? Nothing except your own fears.

Banish fears from your heart and you have nothing left to fear. So God uses living creatures to care for his children. But as we move on in the story, we find out that God uses other people to care for his children. This takes us now in another direction to Zarephath and that too by divine revelation. Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, verse 8, Arise, go to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.

Do you recognize the similarity of language? Earlier he said, I have commanded ravens there at Brook Cherith to care for you. Now he said, I have commanded a widow in Zarephath to care for you, same language. She's getting the same command from God to take care of Elijah that the ravens did. You say, ravens can't hear.

Ravens don't be too sure. When God speaks, he can speak to Balaam Zas, he can speak to Elijah's ravens, he can speak to any of his creatures and they hear his voice and they obey him. May we do the same. So God's word came again. Go to Zarephath. That's on the Mediterranean Sea on the coast between Tyre and Sidon. What?

Between Tyre and Sidon? That's a Gentile nation. That's an idolatrous nation. That's a place where they worship Baal. You're sending me there? Yep, go to Zarephath. That's where Jezebel came from. Yep, that's why I'm sending you there.

Go to Zarephath. I'm going to teach some people some very important lessons here. And I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. What? A widow?

Come on now, Lord. If you're sending me to Zarephath, at least send me to a rich person who can afford to provide for me. You're sending me to Zarephath to a widow to take care of me?

Yep, that's what I'm doing. Unlikely location, unlikely provision, difficult promise. We wrestle with promises in the Bible as to whether we really believe them or not. We somehow think that these other promises that other people have had, you know, they had no trouble with those. Listen, folks, these promises that came to Elijah were far more difficult to believe and obey than most of the things that God has said to us in His word. But Elijah didn't bat an eye. He just said, yes, sir, God, if you said it, I'd do it.

Show me the direction. And he walked 85 miles to Zarephath and showed up at the gate. I don't know how many days it took him, several days.

Showed up at the gate. And there he saw a widow gathering sticks. How did he know that she was a widow? Well, on that day, people indicated their status in life by the way they dressed. So, for example, an unmarried girl, an unmarried woman, a virgin, would dress in such a way that that could be known by the way she dressed. And a married woman would dress in such a way that it would be known that she's a married woman. And a widow would dress in such a way that people would know that she was a widow. So it wasn't difficult for Elijah to tell that this is a widow. And it wasn't difficult for him to know that she was a poor widow. Sometimes there are rich widows.

We find some of those in the Bible. More often there are poor widows, which is more common. And how did he know she was a poor widow? Because a rich widow wouldn't be gathering sticks. If a rich widow needed sticks, which she probably didn't, but if a rich widow needed sticks, she'd send a servant to fetch wood. But this woman, dressed as a widow and probably in clothes that in themselves indicated that she was poor, probably torn and dirty and the best she had, but a poor widow.

But there she is picking up a few sticks. So Elijah knew that she was a widow and he knew that she was a poor widow. And there she was right at the gate where he'd been sent.

So he assumed, I think, and as it turns out correctly, that this is the one. The question is, how did he know? He knew she was a widow.

He knew she was poor. But how did she know that she was the widow? God said, I'm going to send you to Zarephath to a widow to take care of you there.

I've commanded a widow to take care of you. But of course there was more than one widow in Zarephath. How did Elijah know this was the one? God could have told him. We don't know that.

But Elijah could have figured it out, I think, by observation. Okay, she's the first widow I see when I arrive on site. She's poor. She's gathering sticks. She's probably the one. I think I will ask her for a drink of water and see how she responds. Will you please fetch me a glass of water? And off she goes, obediently and gladly to do it.

Kind of like Rachel or Rebecca. The servant shows up looking for a bride for Isaac. And he's trying to figure out who's the right one. And he says, can you help me here? Is there enough food in your father's house to take care of me and my camels? And she says, let me just water all your camels. That was quite a job.

Water all those camels. And she just did it gladly and willingly. He knew she was the one by what happened.

And I think something like that's going on here with Elijah. So he says, get me a glass of water. And some widows would have said, get your own water, buster. I don't know you. You're a stranger. You're a Jew.

I'm a Gentile. Why should I get you water? Get your own water. But nope, off she goes to get a glass of water. That's a good sign.

That's a good sign. While you're going, bring me a piece of bread. Ultimate test. And she comes back and says, but I have no bread. I have a little bit of flour in the bin and a little bit of oil in the flask. And I'm gathering sticks right now to make the last meal for myself and my son.

And when I've got enough sticks to build the fire, I'm going to mix up that flour and oil into a little loaf of bread and we're going to eat our last meal and we're going to die because we don't have anything else. Well, now here's a bright prospect for Elijah's provision. But she's exactly the one that God has in mind for him. And there's something about her that indicates, as we see, that she knows about Jehovah. In fact, what she says when she responds to his request for bread. She says, as the Lord your God lives. We'd have been more encouraged if she'd said, as the Lord my God lives, to indicate that she was now trusting him.

She doesn't say that, so we're left wondering. But we at least recognize that she knew who God was. She knew who Elijah's God was. No doubt she had had some communication from God. God said, I've commanded a widow to care for you there.

We don't know exactly how that command, how those instructions, how that came. But there's an opening here, and Elijah recognizes that. And so he comes to her with a wonderful promise. Don't be afraid. That's the biggest problem is our own fears. We fear this. What about this?

What about that? What am I going to do when my meal runs out? What am I going to do when I can't take care of this and can't take care of that? Do not be afraid. Proceed with your plan to make yourself a meal. That's good.

That shows industry. You're not just saying it's hopeless. Why do I even bother with the last meal?

Why do I go to all the trouble to do this work, to gather these sticks, to make this bread? Let's just sit down and die. That's what's going to happen anyway. But no, that's not her attitude.

She shows commendable industry. But once her food is gone, the flour and oil is gone, all the industry in the world can't produce a single bite of food, what's she going to do? Don't be afraid. Go ahead with your plan. But, and this is astonishing, but make a little cake for me first.

Give it to me first. Isn't that what he says, verse 13? Verse 13, do not be afraid.

Go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me, and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, the bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. Quite a promise. If you do this, your meager supply will never run out again.

All kinds of questions arise. How is that possible? I've never seen anything like that in my whole life. I've never seen flour last beyond what obviously it was capable of accomplishing. I've never seen oil do anything like that. That's impossible.

That's unscientific. That can't be done. Believe God.

Don't be afraid. Do it, and you shall see what God is able to do. Give to me first, and then you can provide for yourself and your son. Question. Was Elijah being selfish by making such a, as some would consider, crass demand? This poor widow has nothing, absolutely nothing, just enough to feed herself and her son, and the prophet is audacious enough to say, make me something, and not just make me something too, but make me something first. Isn't that out of line? No, it's not.

It's not. As Matthew Henry said at this point, the flour and oil multiplied in the giving, not in the hoarding. Elijah knew that. He was instructing her how to tap the resources of Almighty God. It's not being selfish.

It sounds like it, but he's not being selfish. He's telling her God controls. God controls the elements. God controls the weather. God controls living creatures. God controls people.

God controls the elements, and God keeps his promises, and God delights in those who trust him. I'm telling you to do this. If you obey, you are going to be fed until you don't need that food anymore, until the rain returns, until the normal process has come, until you can grow some food in your garden and feed yourself by your own industry again. But until that time comes, if you will do as I say, if you'll believe me, I will take care of you miraculously.

You don't need to ask how. Just believe and obey, and it shall be done. Let me say a few things here that I learned from this passage. First of all, in regard to giving and salvation, you understand, I trust, that there's no saving merit in giving. But I hope you also understand that giving the way we give or don't give reveals our attitude toward God. And as we see in this account, it can be an important step in coming into true faith, heart faith, saving faith in God. At what point did this widow become a true believer, a true Christian? Though, of course, this is Old Testament.

Nobody's called a Christian. At what point did that happen? It's impossible to say. We don't think so when she said, as the Lord your God lives. That doesn't sound like she's quite there yet. But before this is over, I think she's trusting God completely for everything.

At what point did that happen? It appears to be related to the time when she said, okay, I'm going to make bread for the prophet who represents God. In our giving, we're always giving to somebody who represents God. We can't send it by airmail up to heaven and give it directly to God. It always goes to a missionary. It always goes to a church. It always goes to a representative of God.

That's the way God operates. She said, in giving this to Elijah first, I'm giving it to God first and trusting him. Was she amazed?

Was she surprised? Her attitude toward God was very much tied up in her coming to faith in God. It's an important step. Which is why I keep imploring you year after year to use the faith promise procedure to train your children to give to God. Will that save them?

No. But it's an important lesson in creating the right attitudes within them to recognize that everything they have comes from God. And they need to honor God and acknowledge that by giving a portion back to him. They have life because God gave it to them. Their life is sustained because God gave it to them. They have food.

They have shelter. They have the necessities of life because God has provided them. And therefore they should learn that reality. They should acknowledge that that's true and they should learn to give to God.

And who knows what will happen along the way as they develop that kind of attitude toward God. I thank God that I had parents who taught me that at an early age. Before I had come to faith in Christ I was tithing my little allowance and giving it to God.

Why? Because my parents taught me to. But that was an important lesson that God used in my life. Whenever we receive the faith promise cards, and they're not signed, we don't know where they come from. But when we see one that says, I'm going to give five cents a week, we know that didn't come from an adult. We know where that came from.

And we are thrilled beyond all measure. And our only disappointment is that there's only just a very few of those. There ought to be many of those. Where are you parents? What are you teaching your children?

Where are you looking for opportunities to train your children? Where are you looking for tools that can be wonderfully used to prepare the hearts of your children, to trust God, and to look to Him, and to prepare them to trust Him for salvation? This is one of the most important tools you can use. Don't let it go unused.

It's too valuable an opportunity. But as far as believers are concerned, let me say a few things about giving and believers. God requires that we put Him first in everything, including in our giving. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

That's got to do with material things, doesn't it? Not seek me second, not seek me third, not take care of your things first and give me the leftovers, but seek ye first the kingdom of God. We see the example in the Old Testament of the firstfruits offering when the crops started coming in. They didn't say, if I have enough left over when I've harvested all my crops and taken care of all of my responsibilities, if I have anything left over, I'll give it to God. God said, no, first, first, honor me with the first, the firstfruits, and they did. And that's the way we honor God with our giving. God requires that we put Him first. And God promises blessings to those who give.

What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians chapter 9? But this I say, he who sows sparingly will reap also sparingly, but he who sows bountifully shall also reap. Bountifully, that's in a whole chapter, two chapters on giving. That's talking about giving. Those who give sparingly will receive sparingly. I didn't tell you that if you give to me first, your oil and flowers shall not fail. God said it.

I'm just His messenger. I'm telling you what God said. What if Elijah had said, God, I'm embarrassed to tell this poor widow that. She obviously can't afford it.

I can't tell her that. Would Elijah have been doing the right thing to have withheld that message from the widow that turned out to be her provision for many months and years to come because a new jet? No, I'm just trying to tell you, I'm trying to help you in your relationship with God. I'm teaching you what God says. God promises blessings to those who give. And God gives to those who give to enable them to give more. That's what this passage goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 9. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work.

Now, may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgivings through us to God. It's one thing to believe in the abstract that God is able to perform miracles to take care of his children. It's another thing to put God to the test and say, you said this, I'm going to try it and see if it's true.

And when you do, to experience it for yourself. And that's what God wants us to do. God wants us to believe him. God wants us to trust him. God wants us to honor him. God wants us to put him to the test. God wants to pour out blessings upon those who believe him and who demonstrate their faith.

And how they give. Shall we pray? Father, help us to know your ways and to walk on your paths as we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.