Ever get that feeling that God is trying to tell you something? In Thursday morning bible study we got to talking about titheing. We bantered some things around, and I asked isn't the tithe actually more than 10%? Well.... last night Rick was preaching out of Dueteronomy, and one of the things he brought up was the tithe. There was the normal 10% tithe. Then there was the year of sabbath every seventh year, where they allowed the land to remain fallow, which amounts to 14%. Then there is the year of Jubilee every 50th year, where they partied all year and didn't plant anything, which is 2%. Then there was the gleaning laws, which basically said that they where to be sloppy when harvesting, in order to leave something behind for the aliens, orphans, and widows to glean, which is estimated to be 4% (maybe to make the total a nice round number). That is a total of 30%! For those of us that thought 10% was a stretch, ouch!. Actually we do a little more than 10% to the church, but God has kind of been tapping me on the shoulder there and saying "Is that enough?". It seems that the paycheck barely stretches as it is. To give more?
Maybe God is trying to ask me, once again, how much do you trust me? Do I not say that I will meet all your needs? I was struggling with this same thing this spring when debating whether to take my sabatical or not. Once I made the decision to do it, we were so richly blessed! So why am I hanging on so tightly now? Am I like the Israelites and forgeting what God has done for us?
I do not know!