Tithing: The Windows of Heaven

My son returned home from his mission last summer. Since that time, he’s found that post-mission life can be difficult. With the current economy, finding a job has been hard, if not impossible, for him. He’s been living at home trying to find a job to save some money and move out.

My daughter has been attending college. She took a semester off to work and save money for college. When she returned to college, she found that the tuition costs had increased. She planned to work at the same place she’d worked the year before while attending school. She started working for this same company, but unfortunately it was affected by the economy and one day while she was on her way to work, she received a call telling her not to come in because the company was closed as of that day. To top it off, she was told that her paychecks from the few weeks she worked had been sent to the wrong address and were lost in the mail. My daughter called me in a panic, unsure what to do. She had very little money, no job, and no idea how to pay for food or her tuition. She decided she’d pay her tithing on the small amount she’d earned before the company closed.

My son also decided to pay tithing on a small amount of money he’d earned. The day after he paid his tithing, he received a call for an interview with a company he thought had already hired an employee. Two days later, he received another call for an interview for a different job. He also finally received a refund check he’d been waiting for. A coincidence? I don’t think so.

My daughter call the day after she’d paid her tithing to tell me that the checks that had been lost in the mail suddenly appeared in her account as direct deposits. She also went to her mailbox that day and found a refund check from a past apartment. Now with this money and a small loan, she can make it to the end of the semester. A coincidence? Again, I don’t think so. She told me, “Mom, I will never not pay tithing.”

In Malachi 3:8 we read, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” The Lord takes tithing very seriously, we would be wise to do the same. All that we have is his. He only asks that we give 10 percent back. A small amount compared to what he gives us each day.

The Law of Tithing is a law that must be practiced before the blessings come. We must exercise our faith in it before we can receive the blessings from being obedient to it. Think of what would happen if we all obeyed the Law of Tithing. Think of what we could accomplish if everyone in the United States willingly donated 10 percent of their increase and it was administered properly. We could solve so many problems in this country. We could eradicate hunger, strengthen our cities, repair our roads, educate our children properly, take care of our needs, and as has been my experience, enjoy blessings of abundance. If only we were willing to give the Lord his tenth he would, “open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).

I have a testimony of the Law of Tithing. I’ve seen it work in my own life and in the lives of my children. He truly does open the windows of heaven.

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