ESOCS Devotional 6 November 2025 – God’s Tenth
MEMORY VERSE: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi 3:8
TEXT: MALACHI 3:8-END
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 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.
11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;
12 “And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
13 “Your words have been harsh against Me,”
Says the Lord,
“Yet you say,
‘What have we spoken against You?’
14 You have said,
‘It is useless to serve God;
What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance,
And that we have walked as mourners
Before the Lord of hosts?
15 So now we call the proud blessed,
For those who do wickedness are raised up;
They even tempt God and go free.’ ”
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.
17 “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.[f]
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.
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I’ve made an interesting discovery: Tithing actually predates the law. The first time we read in the Bible of ‘tithing’ came several centuries in God’s program before the law had been given. The Bible tells us that Abraham (then called Abram) had to rescue his nephew Lot and many of his family members and neighbors from a marauding army of enemies. After Abraham rescued his family and restored their possessions to them, Melchizedek, King of Salem, an Old Testament type of Christ’s priesthood (see Psalm 110:4; also Hebrews 6:20) came out to bless Abraham. And we’re told that Abraham “gave him a tithe of all” (Gen. 14:20; see also Hebrews 7:1-10).
Four centuries later, when God gave the law to His people through Moses, He did command the Jewish people to tithe. But Abraham, in his day, wasn’t obligated by law to ‘tithe’ to this mysterious priest who was a type of Christ. The law had not yet been given. He tithed as a grateful response to God’s goodness to Him. Later on still, centuries before the law had been given, God gave Abraham’s grandson the promise of the same blessing that He gave to Abraham. And in response, Jacob promised that, “of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you” (Gen. 28:22).
And that’s how I believe you and I are to understand tithing today. It’s not a matter of law. Rather, it’s a matter of grateful and humble worship. The Bible tells us that for the man or woman under grace through Christ, giving is not to be done “grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).
But at the same time, though it isn’t an obligation of “law”, I believe that tithing is an obligation. As I hope to show you from God’s word this morning, ‘tithing’ isn’t just a matter of deciding to generously give to God something from out of what belongs to us. Rather, it’s an act of worship in which we recognize that all that we have comes from Him, and that we honour His ownership over all by giving back to Him a portion of what is already His. It’s a matter of recognizing several things: (1) That God really is God; that all that we are and have, have God as the source; and that it all already belongs to Him. (2) That He entrusts what He gives to us as a matter of stewardship, to use for His glory and in accordance with His will. (3) That He calls us to live on ninety-percent and return a tenth of what He gives us back to Him for His work.
CHHALLENGES
- Always remember that from the breath in your nostrils to every other thing you possess belong to God. Do not neglect to give Him of all that you earn by profit or you receive by His grace or favour.
PRAYER POINT
- Father, cause me to cease from denying you my obligation of tithing. Amen.
FURTHER READING: Job 9:21-35; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-End; 1 Timothy 1:1-End
ESOCS Devotional 6 November 2025
