Proving Him

Daily Reading: Malachi 3 & 4

Malachi 3:10 & 11 “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, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. (11) And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.”

When God asks us to prove Him it brings this feeling of excitement in me. I feel it when I pray for the sick or lay my hands over those who are forsaken. God is not done and He will prove Himself. What will we see? He is always the same and never predictable, how will He deliver this time? I am glad to be among the congregation of believers who He challenges to challenge Him. In this case He is challenging us to prove His ability to provide for us, not just provide, but His ability to go beyond what we need and fill our vessels until they overflow. He wants to see us prosper and be in health, even as our soul prospers.

This house is waiting for that blessing. I think of the past nine months and some of the months to come as the hard work of harvesting. Pastor has talked before about the way people often look at sowing and reaping. Some people think that they can sow the seed and the harvest will just show up in their barn. You have to go out and reap the harvest and reaping is the hardest part. Kris and I have been faithful to sow seed when given opportunity and God has been faithful to give us a harvest but taking it all in is hard work. It’s a lot of waiting and a lot of wondering and a lot of reminding ourselves that truth is an unbending bridge and it will be the only way to get to the goal we are looking at.

Not only is He faithful to do what He says…He will also defend us as we go out to harvest. The devourer comes to ruin the seed that is planted. He tries to destroy the fruit that comes or even throw off the timing and bring the fruit too early. When that happens, the fruit is bitter and small…it never ripens as it should. God says he will rebuke this devourer and he will not be successful in this cause.