By A Rock Stories Contributor

A tither learns about the promises of God

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“I’m going to go pick up the kids,” my wife said with her shoulders slumping. She had just brought me downstairs to give me the bad news: she had added up all the numbers and found that we were woefully short for the month: $1100.

I watched her walk out of the house under grey skies and an umbrella and felt like it was raining on my life. For so long now we had been trying to fight off this day, hoping and praying that God would give me a job, but months had gone by and God seemed painfully silent. We had been part of God’s economy for so many years, always tithing from whatever money we made, and it seemed like God wasn’t getting our checks. If He had promised to take care of us, how did being 1100 bucks down make any sense?

And so, I threw a fit. I’m not proud of it. But that is what I did. I walked around in a circle and threw my fists and elbows. 

When my wife came home, the sniffles she had weren’t because she got caught in the rain.

"You're not going to believe what just happned," she said.  

“You’re not going to believe what just happened,” she said. "Oh no," I said. "What now—"

“Oh no,” I said. “What now—”

The lady in front of her in the line to pick up kids backed up her SUV by mistake and crunched the front of our car, buckling our hood big time. It stuck up like a giant table card in front of our windshield. No way we could drive it like that.

That was it. I came unglued. Not only did I not feel God’s favor, I felt forgotten—poorly treated—if you want to know the truth. I sat in my living room, looked out the window at the rainy day and did an old fashioned sulk.

When the insurance sent me a check for the damage, it was almost like a bad joke. It was for $1100, the exact amount of money I needed for bills. But of course, I couldn’t have it. It was already spoken for—the hood of my rattletrap car. It was like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown.

I was sitting in the office of the auto body shop listening to the guy talk about all the legal papers I had to sign, when I began to look for a break to ask how long he would need my car. His answer would determine how many days we’d have to go through the hassle of being a one-car family…when he said, “Hey, you know what?"

“What?” I replied.

“I have an idea. Follow me for a second?”

 “This buckle,” he said leaning against my car, “I can take a machine I have and flatten this sucker down. It won’t be perfectly, but hey, if I do that, then use a zip tie to secure it down, that baby won’t be going anywhere. So your old car has a little crease in the hood—who cares? You can take that insurance check and use it for whatever you want.”

I looked at him like a little boy looks at Santa at the mall. “I can just take the check?”

“It’s your money,” he said. “You can do whatever you want with it.”

“It’s your money,” he said. “You can do whatever you want with it.”

I quickly had to scan my memory as to whether I had let on to him about my money woes. But I had never said a thing.

“Well, how much do I owe you for the machine and the zip tie?”

“Oh, that ain’t nothing,” he said. “Give me a couple of hours. Then come back and get your car.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” came to mind. It’s what Jesus said when He woke to a boat-full of scared-to-death friends who had lost hope in the middle of a storm. When my own personal storm reared, I did not trust. I faltered and feared and complained. But I never needed to. In fact, I could have looked at that buckled hood and thought, What a golden opportunity to trust that God is good for His promises, and that He uses all things for my good, especially things that seem bad. 

That was many years ago. I am still in my house, I am still tithing, and I am still paying my mortgage. Check that. God is still paying my mortgage. 

He is good for His promises after all. 

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Thankfulness can lead to greater joy and less anxiety. Click here to view the Thanks and Giving sermon series to learn about the healing power of being generously thankful.

Interested in learning more about the heart behind tithing and what God promises when we do tithe? Check out the Rock Financial Life Ministry here.