Break Me, Lord...And Give Me Change

[dave c]

simpletruth #138h Re-Written 08May10 salicart@msn.com

HOSEA 10:12—Part Eight: Break Me, Lord...And Give Me Change

by rev. dave c

Hosea 10:12, Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you (NKJV).

This series of discussions has so far centered on the Godly principle of the Law Of The Harvest, which we can summarize as, “Reap what you sow...sow what you reap...trust God to multiply what you are sowing and reaping.” In the past few papers we have taken a look at the first three of the four factors that effect the harvests in our lives: 1) What are we sowing? 2) Where are we sowing? 3) How much are we sowing? Now it’s time to take a look at, 4) Why are we sowing?

In Second Corinthians 9:6&7 we are told, Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (NIV). The word translated as cheerful is from the Greek, hilaros (Strong's # 2431), from which we get the English word hilarious, and it means propitious, merry, i.e. prompt or willing:—cheerful. I don’t know that God wants us to be laughing hysterically as we give, but I do know that He wants us to experience joy as we sow generously from our finances, our time, our talents—from all of our resources.

Paul is not telling the Corinthian church in verse 7 that if they don’t “feel” like giving...then they shouldn’t. The Apostle is telling them individually and collectively to make a prayerful decision to give an amount of money and/or goods with which they are comfortable. If they (we) experience a reluctance to give due to a selfish nature, then they (we) should still give...but with a prayer that God soften their (our) hearts. Jesus says in Revelation 2:23, I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Christ knows us from the inside out and He is in the business of change. Whenever we are hesitant to do what we know is right, then we need to pray, “Change me, Lord.” I know personally that He honors this prayer—sometimes quickly, sometimes within a season, or sometimes through the years. If you are not yet ready, however, to pray that prayer with sincerity regarding some issue, then try this one, “Jesus, please make me willing to be willing to let You change me.” This is a very honest prayer that I also know God honors—not just regarding our having a “joy in giving,” but in all aspects of our Christian walk.

Let’s play a game: You are in church. You are out of money. God gives you a totally unexpected one hundred dollar bill [hey, He’s God...He could do it]. You are full of joy because God is Jehovah Jireh…God Provides. Here comes the collection plate. You want to give, but all you have is that one hundred dollar bill and you have real needs. No one but you and God knows about the $100. You struggle with, “Do I put it in my pocket/purse, or in the plate?” There goes the joy. Let me offer a third possibility. What if we pray, “God, break my $100…give me change”? And what if God then turns that one hundred dollar bill into a fifty, a twenty, two ten’s, one five, and five one’s [remember, He’s God]. Would it be easier to decide to give back a portion with which you are comfortable—a part of the whole that you can give with joy? Of course it would. We hit this type of spiritual impasse every day. If we will pray, “Break me, Lord...give me change,” I know that, as God answers our prayer, we would be surprised at how much easier it is to give out of joy than it is to give out of reluctance or compulsion.

God exhorts us in Malachi 3:8, "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. 9 "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you. 10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the LORD of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows (NAS). This passage from the Old Testament makes me pause every time I read it. The tithes belong to God...the tithes, while actually meaning a tenth, being whatever He and we have determined is appropriate to give to the Church...but verse 8 says that the offerings also belong to Him. I read “the offerings” to mean my giving, or my sowing generously above and beyond the tithe. When I am not giving freely (and giving with joy), I am robbing God the same as when I withhold the tithe.

As is often pointed out, verse 10b of Malachi 3 is the only occasion where God tells us to test Him in His promise to open for us the windows of heaven and pour out for us a blessing until it overflows...IF we will be an hilarious giver. Earlier, in Isaiah 58:10, God gave His people this assurance: ...if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday (NIV). In my daily struggles to submit and surrender my resources to Christ and His Church, I need join my voice with King David’s: You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Ps 51:16&17; NIV). “Break me, Lord...and give me change. Amen.”