Sunday, March 23, 2025

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. 9 Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:5-10

“If I can’t see it, I don’t trust it.” That is how we often think. Or, “If God can’t prove it to me upfront, I won’t do it.” We Americans like to think that we are capable of taking care of ourselves. God knows otherwise. God often leads us to follow Him in ways that don’t add up according to human logic. For example, it doesn’t add up that God says the best way to maximize our time each day is to give Him the first portion in prayer and Bible reading. It makes no sense when we are so busy in our lives that setting aside Sunday to worship and serve the Lord is a key to better health. On and on the examples flow. This is why we must trust in the Lord, acknowledge Him (by stopping to ask “What would God want me to do here?”), and fear Him by turning away from evil.

Then the Lord gets to something that will surely put all of this thinking to the test: “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce.” In Malachi, we learn about the tithe, which means 10%. God says the way to honor Him with our wealth is to give Him at least the first 10%. It doesn’t balance on paper that God wants us to give Him at least the first 10% of our income so that He can make the remaining 90% stretch further than the original 100%. That gets down to the nitty-gritty. You can’t trust in the Lord and acknowledge Him while refusing to put Him to the test in the area of finances. If you have never taken this step, I dare you to try the Lord for six months by giving the Biblical tithe. You will never look back!

  • Pray and ask God to show you any areas where you have been leaning on your own thinking and not trusting in Him.
  • Ask Him to grow you in that/those areas so that you will trust Him more.
  • Ask God if there are any areas where you are not fearing Him and are therefore not turning away from evil.
  • Ask God to make FBC Mandeville a church that honors the Lord from our wealth through our tithes and offerings to the Lord.
  • I look forward to seeing you this morning in church as we worship the Lord!