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“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says Yahweh of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and empty out for you a blessing until it is beyond enough.”

Malachi 3:10, LSB

Nothing closes the ears of people faster than talking about money. This is nothing new. Does God worry about money? No, it all belongs to Him. God worries about trust, particularly our trusting in Him. It’s not that God wants us to be foolish with our money, nor does He want us to be obsessed with it. Now the tithe was not just monetary, however. It was focused on what we produce, and the reason we make it about money today is that most of what we produce is wages that come in the form of money. God wants our dependence not to be on ourselves but upon Him. He is the one who gives us gifts and the ability to do things. If we think it is all about us, we fail to realize that those gifts can and will eventually be no more. In our Lord and His providence, He wants our lives not to be defined in what we do or things we enjoy, but in Him and His lordship in our lives. When we place our concerns on Him, we can walk in confidence that He hears and will lead us into His peace.

Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.