Our reading today is from Malachi 3:10-11
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
How to we learn to trust like this?
The Bible tells us about Abraham, who went to a place where God called him to go, even though he didn’t know where he was going. This has led some people to believe that we should always trust God, even when we don’t know what’s going to happen.
However, I think we get this wrong. Abraham’s faith was amazing, but God doesn’t ask us to leap into the dark. When the Israelites fled from the Pharaoh, he pursued them. Israel escaped to the Red Sea and the Pharaoh chased them there.
When Israel was safely on the other side of the Red Sea, an amazing thing happened. The water that had parted for God’s people came back and drowned the Egyptian army. Standing on the other side, the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians that washed up on the shore.
Moses tells us, “When the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant.”
Did you catch that? When they saw with their eyes, their faith grew. It is good to grow from experiencing God. This is not the only time this happened. Gideon asked God to show him evidence of His power. Moses struggled with faith even after seeing a powerful sign from God.
God calls on us to test Him. As our text for today said, “‘Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'”
God knows we are made of clay. God knows we have weaknesses. He does not blast us for our weakness, but “leads us beside the still waters.” Our problem is not that we have tested God and found him to fail. Our problem is that we do not test Him at all. Learn to lean on Him. He is the only leaning post that will never fail you.
Lonnie Davis