“Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does such wonderful things.” Psalm 72:18
Do you have a giving story? I’ve compiled a few through the years, but none more vivid than this one. I had moved from Eastern North Carolina to the Raleigh area and had gotten myself into somewhat of a financial pickle. I had bought out a small business in the area and had merged it in with my current business, and in the process of trying to grow things too fast, my overhead had gotten out of hand. Feeling the pinch, I decided to sell my home and use the equity to pay off as much debt as possible.
During this same time, the church I was attending had their annual giving campaign to which I wanted to participate but couldn’t figure out just how to do it. I prayed about it and felt the Lord lead me to tithe off the equity of the profit of the home I was selling. So I did. On that particular Sunday, I couldn’t wait to put my check in the chest. This particular church called their giving campaign “The Chest of Joash,” patterned after the Old Testament story of Joash and how he set up a chest for everyone to walk by and put in their offering. It was late November, and although I knew Christmas was right around the corner, not worrying about how I was going to buy Christmas gifts, I put that check in the chest and felt a supernatural joy.
At the end of the service, I “just so happened” to exit the building from a different than normal exit for me, and when I opened the door an older couple, whom I didn’t know all that well, looked at me with a stunned look on their faces. They said, “We’ve been looking for you because the Lord wanted us to give this to you” and they handed me an envelope with cash inside. When I got out to the car I opened it, and to my amazement it was the exact dollar amount that I had just given, giving me more than enough for Christmas.
In 2 Corinthians chapter nine, Paul instructed the Church at Corinth about the joy that can only be found in giving and how God can, and will, do wonderful things when we give from a willing heart.
Today, remember that as you are willing to give, God will provide the seed for giving and then the blessing of giving.