Provision.

I paid bills yesterday. First I sent money to the church. And it was sort of hard. I thought about the way that I feel disconnected from my church: I don’t teach Sunday school, many worship from home, I attend the Cypress campus for convenience but not out of a sense of calling. I’m in no choir. My college kids attend elsewhere (FOR WHICH I AM SO GRATEFUL), and if I drive to the Loop campus, it’s sparsely attended this year due to COVID-19, and my parents definitely won’t be there. On top of that—the money was difficult to send to the church following an unexpected car repair. 

But God asks for the tithe. And the church meets needs: that money will bless poor people around the world with food, shelter, and the gospel message. People who need Jesus will be blessed. And honestly, when you feel disconnected from church, that’s the time to give MORE, not less. Giving IS connecting. And giving is an act of worship, a demonstration of faith in action. Giving says, “God, I trust you to meet my needs.”

God asked His people to give not only tithes, but to trust Him by taking the 7th day off—the sabbath was holy. Jews were faithful about the Sabbath; the orthodox continue to be amazingly disciplined about it.

But God also told them to take every seventh year off from farming, to let the ground rest and to TRUST GOD to provide. The people seem to have conveniently ignored this command. God dealt with their disobedience 490 years later by having all the people carted off to Babylon for 70 years so the land could have the 70 years of rest it was owed.

But it never had to be this way. God promised to provide:

“When you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow nor reap?’ Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year and it shall bring forth fruit for THREE years. And when you sow in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the sixth year even until you reap in the ninth year.” Leviticus 25:20-22.

You can give. You can make sacrifices. And you can trust God to take care of you, no matter what.

He is our PROVIDER. He always will be.

ΑΩ