Have I Robbed God?

Malachi 38 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!

“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’

“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.

When you think about it, we most likely cheat God in more than just our tithes and offerings. Naught did I say we don’t cheat God in our tithes, I just believe our cheating and craftiness goes beyond that. I will explain in a moment but first let’s probe closely at the rest of this passage.

10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

How many of us are like this passage? Here it is the bible says…we will all be rich and prosperous. Well, if only that was what God had in mind. The very next verse does not talk about money falling from heaven, but it does talk about the labor of man being fruitful.

Let’s go move beyond, reflect and examine how we cheat God. What if God did not make us rich as He promised? Did He not bless your life? God has filled our lives with so many blessings, yet because we had our own expectation that God would, or dare I say HAD to work in a certain way i.e. make us healthy, wealthy and prosperous we become disappointed. How ungrateful we have become! Moreover, we cheat God of the glory and praise due to Him for His many blessings in our lives that we His very children forget. We behave so selfishly and have a temper tantrum when our father does not give us what we want. I had a friend whose brother died of cancer, he could not understand why God would let that happen and blamed God for the death of His brother. I do not pretend to understand why God works the way He does, but I know that His ways are so far above mine that I could not comprehend them.

How can we blame God for anything that comes into our life while at the same time we neglect to thank Him for the very breath we take? Is it not God that holds the entire universe together by His very will? Do not rob God of anything that is due Him, tithes, offerings or blessing and praises. It is not for the clay to question the potter as He fashions the vessel. God has never failed me in my life and He never will. Yes, there have been many times when God has moved in a way that I did not understand, some of those ways I still don’t understand to this day and most likely won’t until the day I go home. Yet, in other times, I did not understand in the moment, but God has allowed me to reflect and see how He moved in my life to accomplish His will and at the same time do what was best for me. At the moment, I did not think it was best and yes even on occasion felt exasperated.

This is what I do know, God sent His Son to die for me. What if God never allowed one other good thing to come into my life? Isn’t the salvation of my soul enough to make me eternally grateful? But my God did not stop there, No He has never stopped loving me and is working in my life for what is best. God has filled my life and yours with His blessings. Nothing brings peace more than embracing the will of God and nothing brings destruction more than turning away from the will of God. As the old song goes, “Count your blessing name them one by one. Count your blessing see what God has done.” Our God is worthy of all Honor and Glory and Praise, let us not rob Him of anything that is due to Him.