“Is the Lord here with us or not?”

That’s the question God’s own people were asking themselves—and a very stressed-out Moses—as they headed for the promised land thousands of years ago.

I think it’s a question we still ask ourselves today, in our weakest moments.

Keep in mind that the Israelites were questioning God after personally witnessing His power through the 10 plagues He used to get them out of Egypt. And then there was that famous Red Sea incident, when God separated a massive body of water to make their escape complete.

Still, they questioned God, who later made it clear that testing Him was not OK.

“Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah,” Deuteronomy 6:16 says, referring to the place where the people complained and grumbled against God.

Jesus quotes that very same verse in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 when the devil is egging Him on and telling Him to throw Himself down from the highest point of the temple.

“It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

So we see in both the Old and New Testaments that it’s never a good idea to say to the God of the universe, “Are You here or not? Why don’t you do such-and-such and prove it.” That kind of attitude reveals arrogance, disobedience and a fundamental distrust of God’s authority.


But is it ever OK to test God? One verse in the book of Malachi says, “yes.” And the test has to do with one of the toughest spiritual disciplines for many of us: tithing.


“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. 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 there will not be room enough to store it. (Malachi 3:10, NIV)

Whoa. Permission to test God….in a very specific way. But what does it actually mean for us today?

First, let’s talk about a few things it doesn’t mean.

It doesn’t mean tithing will automatically result in God making us financially wealthy.

It doesn’t mean we should give just to see what we can get out of it.

And it doesn’t mean faith in God boils down to one legalistic duty and the resulting blessing.


Pastor Rick Ezell shared a sermon about this topic on LifeWay.com.

“The tithe was not a legalistic regulation,” he said. “It was more than the Old Testament income tax. God had a special purpose in asking for the tenth. It was to teach his people to put him first.”

When God says to test Him by tithing, it’s almost like He’s daring us to try to out-give Him. But of course, whether we give 10 percent or 100 percent, we can never bless God more than He blesses us.

The challenge in Malachi 3 isn’t about obligatory donations or getting rich; it’s about putting God first in our giving and beyond. It’s about giving Him the first and the best part of everything we have and experiencing His blessing in return.

And it’s not always going to be easy.

Sometimes we’re battling debt. Or dealing with medical expenses. Or unforeseen circumstances that make us want to hang onto every penny we can for the sake of self-preservation.

But Malachi 3 teaches us that we need to push past our fears and doubts and actually believe God’s promises. It challenges us to test Him in the one way He will permit us to do so: in our giving.

There will always be a reason not to tithe. Let’s do it anyway. Let’s bring the whole tithe into the storehouse and see if God will not open the floodgates of heaven as we put our trust in Him.