Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

Putting Trust To Workby T. Frederick KingThe writer of this article has been a tither for manyyears. My wife and I began our married life not only in anearthly partnership, but also in a sacred partnership withGod. Down through the years we have not only faithfullypaid the tenth, we have given more. Now we are nearingretirement. Like many others, we had to face thoseinevitable questions: What to do? Where to go? Out of ameager preacher's salary we had managed to save a little,but it was such a little that about the best that could besaid was that we were not in debt, and we had somethingfor the proverbial rainy day. To buy a home seemed utterlyimpossible. It would take a miracle — and thensuddenly it happened. The miracle did come to pass. In amost unexpected way the home was provided. And now,when we finally come to the place of retirement, we canonlv say. "Great is Thy faithfulness."As we thought of the wonder of it all, there is a deeprelationship between tithing and trust in God. Actually,tithing is putting trust to work. Tithing is acting on theprinciple that God is faithful. When we invest in God'swork we are daring to say, He will never leave me norforsake me. How do we learn to trust? How do we acquirefaith? We learn trust by making the venture in trust. Weacquire faith by daring to step out on the promises. Thereis no other way to learn trust and faith. In these things welearn by doing. We must act. Now tithing is one of theways in which we act. When we know with a deepassurance that God will never leave nor forsake us, thenwe can give gladly, we can give hilariously. For God willnever abandon His servants who have been faithful toHim.What happens to old preachers? What happens toGod's servants when they get old, whether they bepreachers or laymen? If they have been faithful, thensomehow God provides the three requisites — food,clothing, shelter — and having these, we can be content.In making the above statements, we are not trying tobring this matter of tithing down to the level of a merelong-term investment. Tithing, we believe, is a sacredobligation — it is a divine requirement. But at the sametime, God is not a hard taskmaster, demanding His "poundof flesh,"regardless of the results to us. God cares for Hischildren, and it is for our spiritual good that He asks thetithe. Our faith is not complete until we give unto Godwhat He requires of us, and that is the tenth as a minimum.By doing this, we are compelled by the act of parting withour money to learn lessons of faith and trust. For trust isnot something that can be learned theoretically. We canonly trust as we dare to trust. A little child will jump whenthe father is there waiting to catch him. We, too, can makethe leap in faith, knowing that God is there, and His armswill always be round about us.This whole transaction, therefore, is deeply personal.It is a partnership and a contract between God andus, and because the contract is personal, the blessings willbe personal, too. And let us not minimize these blessings— they are very real. Out of the lessons of faith and trustabout which we have been thinking, there comes thepriceless blessing of joyous confidence in God. When thisconfidence is real, it gives us a deep inner source ofstrength. It gives us new personalities — radiant personalities.Confidence does something to us. It enables usto meet life triumphantly. No matter what happens, God isthere, and with Him there is victory. There is much inmodern life to depress us; but the child of God can gothrough life with a song in his heart, and a vision of victoryever before him, for he is in partnership with the almightyGod, and that is all that we need.I am glad that I am a tither.The Free MethodistThis and That. from page 16Ask God to show you the plan He has made for you,and ask Him also to enable you to fit into His plan. That isthe way of blessing and the way of spiritual progress.The work. All the materials and all the workmanship, allthe weaving and the spinning, all the woodwork, all theneedlework must be The Best Ever, because it was forGod.What a lesson for us to-day! Do we not sometimesoffer God our second best? Service which is half-hearted?Perhaps you take a Sabbath school class, but your heart isnot in it. You don't look upon every boy and girl as a childto be won for the Lord Jesus! You may even be a leader insome Christian organization in your church or chapel butyou never speak of the salvation which Jesus died on theCross to purchase. You may be a keen member of yourworking party, but you work for your church or chapel,not really for the Lord Jesus! So let us examine ourselvesand lay our so-called service for God alongside thestandard set by the members of this first working party;ask God to forgive our failure and half-heartedness and tohelp us henceforth to give our Best in the service of Himwho gave His all for us.IV. The Heads of the Ministry of WorksThe General Director was Moses himself. Hereceived all the patterns, all the instructions, and all thedetails from God.A man called Bezaleel came next. Notice veryspecially that he was filled with the Spirit of God for verypractical work. He was the chief Lapidary, and he alsoworked in gold, silver, and brass. He was a skilledengraver, and specialized also in wood carving.see page 9JUNE 2, 1971 3