‘You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.’ 2 Corinthians 9:11 NIV

As you draw closer to God, you’ll sometimes find yourself undergoing serious challenges of faith. Because one of the most common security blankets we wrap around ourselves is money, this is where we’ll often find ourselves tested. ‘God blesses those who patiently endure testing.’ (James 1:12 NLT)

These are the times when we have to face up to the truth about our true refuge in times of trouble: is it God or money? And at those times, God will prompt us to step out of our comfort zone when it comes to generosity. When we have a nice, tidy stockpile of money, we can feel safe—but it’s a false security. Unless the Lord is our provider, we have nothing at all. Now this is not to encourage risk-taking or irresponsibility with money. It’s to say that, if God is impressing on you the need to be generous in a particular circumstances, if He’s tapping time and time again at your thoughts saying ‘give’, then don’t ignore His knocks.

Mostly we hesitate to do what God asks because of a feeling of ‘what if’. What if I don’t have enough for the rent? What if I can’t pay for the car repairs? Or the phone bill? If you’ve saved for these and God is stretching you to be generous with the rest, don’t be anxious that the bills will mount up. If you’ve wasted money, God is calling you back to good stewardship, so you can be generous. He gives us ‘seeds’ of money for one purpose: sowing, planting. Unless we open our palms and let the seed fly, we will never know what fruit He might bring from it.

SoulFood: Hosea 1–5, Luke 1:26–38, Ps 139:1–6, Pr 13:21–23

The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©