You Cannot Out-give God

By: Pastor Raymond Desadier

MALACHI 3:7 –10 “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. 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.”

In September 2009 I took a great leap of faith by quitting my job before I had found another. More than half of our household income was now gone and there was no way to pare down the expenses by the same margin. During this time however, one commitment I never once considered ceasing was our commitment to tithing and giving.

In the months which followed I was astounded at how we were able to make the ends meet on a much smaller income. I could truly see the hands of God working in our lives. My wife and I had been very generous over the years, not just in tithes and offerings to the church but also in other charities and ways of giving, and now God was returning the favor. This is when I truly learned you cannot out give God.

Let me be clear – I am in no way promoting the prosperity gospel which states that God will make you financially prosperous. He will overflow all of your needs, not all of your wants. Jesus never made anyone rich, but according to Mark chapter 8 He did feed 4,000 of His followers with just seven loaves of bread and a few fish and they even had seven baskets worth of leftovers!

Many Christians may be generous givers according to the bottom line but they miss out on God’s blessings because of their manner of giving. In my college business classes I learned several methods of managing inventory, one of which is called FIFO which stands for First In, First Out. Our tithes need to be based on the FIFO method.

Proverbs 3:9-10 says “Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” God asks us for the FIRST fruits of our labor, not what is left after all the bills have been paid and wants have been fulfilled. Everything we receive is by the grace of God and we need to remember this by honoring His command.

Proverbs 11:24-25 adds, “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” While investment firms may argue, ultimately scattering your blessings among others will lead to more increase than withholding more than you need. Giving liberally opens the door for God to pour out blessings upon us.

The Bible is known for running contrary to what many consider “common sense” and this concept is about as seemingly backwards as it gets, but I can testify to the fact it is true. When you learn to give to others more than you give to yourself, you will receive far more from God than you could have ever claimed on your own.