Last Updated on June 26, 2018 by OCF Communications

by Maj Dean A. Millard, USMC (Ret.)

God through the prophet Malachi told the Old Testament Jews that they were robbing God. The people said, “How are we robbing God?”

They were told that they were robbing God in their tithes and offerings. Rather than giving to God what they were supposed to, they were keeping it for themselves.

God then said an amazing thing. He said, “Test Me!”

All my life I’ve been told to never be so presumptuous as to put God to the test. Yet, in the case of finances, God says, “Test Me!” And the Lord added, “…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” (Malachi 3:10b, NIV).

God promised the Old Testament Jews that He would shower them with physical, material blessings if they would only return to God what was rightfully due Him.

He would supernaturally interfere to make sure their livelihood was protected and that their land was delightful.

I believe the promise of God is as applicable to us who live today as it was to those who lived during the time of Malachi.

However, we live today under a New Covenant. Although the Old Testament Jews under the Old Covenant were given material blessings as a physical manifestation of God’s blessing, that is not necessarily true under the New Covenant.

While God may choose to give us material riches as a reward for our faithfulness, and many times He does, I believe its much more likely that in this day and age that He will choose to give us spiritual riches here on earth and/or eternal riches when we will be living with Him forever in His presence.

The key issue is – what is your attitude toward your finances? Is God in charge, or are you in charge?

The Bible tells us that God owns everything and that we are merely stewards of what God gives us.This includes not only our money, but also our possessions, and our time, and our health, and our career.

Part of spiritual warfare is looking at all aspects of your life and seeing if God is in charge of each and every aspect.

Is God in charge of your finances? If not, it’s time to “Test Me.”