I have always understood and followed the biblical injunction to return a faithful tithe. My parents did an amazing job of instilling that value, along with other biblical truths, into our lives, while my brother and I were still in our formative years.
I was born with a life-threatening disease, but beating the odds, I went on to live a professionally productive life as a registered nurse. That is until my health took a turn for the worse in September of 2006, forcing me to leave my beloved profession and file for Social Security disability.
By the middle of the following year, my husband and I had reached the lowest point in our financial lives as a couple. With finances stretched thin, dark, uncertain days lay before us.
The Funny Thing About Money
In an attempt to make ends meet, I withdrew the funds I had amassed working for the school board; first as a school nurse, then as a nursing instructor. That $3,500 check was the last check I had any say in. I returned tithe on the check, as we had always done throughout our 16 years of marriage.
Money is a funny thing. It is not easily acquired, yet it is uncanny how easily it gets depleted.
Before long my retirement fund was gone. I resolutely claimed the promise found in Philippians 4:19: “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Hubby, on the other hand, now being the sole working adult in our home, thought it best to put a pause on returning tithe on his income. I tried unsuccessfully to remind him that we were counseled to “prove me now herewith ” (Mal. 3:10, KJV). Though I was disappointed by his decision, I gathered I had no further say in the matter.
I am sure my parents and brother were all wondering how we could possibly be making it through financially. No family or friend was ever brought into our financial affairs throughout our marriage.
By the fall of 2007, though I had never before brought family or friends into our financial affairs, I felt compelled to tell my parents about our hardship. Learning about our situation, my brother added $400 to the $400 my parents were gifting us each month.
It was while living in a state of receiving “charitable donations” that we visited a church in Miami, Florida, one Sabbath. Unbeknown to us, God had a message earmarked for my husband.
We live on 80 percent of our income only because God fills 100 percent of our needs.
While I do not now remember who the pastor was, or the title of his sermon, I owe a debt of gratitude to him for allowing God to speak through him that day.
10 Plus 10
Stewardship was the meat of his message. He ended it with an altar call and prayer of commitment. His call, in essence, was for us to prove to ourselves that we cannot outgive God. He asked the congregation if we would be willing to do the 10 plus 10 plan, or a double tithe.
Quite shockingly, my husband stood and answered the call while I sat dumbfounded.
On our way home I jokingly asked my husband if he had gone mad. It had already been three months since he had stopped returning tithe. Yet here he was now indicating that he was not only going to resume returning the tithe on our limited funds, but he was going to return a double tithe.
“All the money is God’s anyhow,” he responded, “so I am going to let God figure out how we are going to survive on 80 percent of one check when we are not making it on 100 percent.” Again I looked at him, flabbergasted.
From the time we began living from paycheck to paycheck, I had furtively been mulling over Psalm 37:25 and was silently seeing its truthfulness. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.”
Eighteen months after starting the 10 plus 10 plan, I was awarded Social Security disability. I gladly returned a double tithe on the retroactive check I had been awarded. God had proved Himself faithful to us, “the least of these.”
His Faithfulness
I would not want to leave you, dear reader, with the impression that our faithfulness was never again tested. But each time the test came, God again proved faithful.
When COVID-19 came, Hubby’s company did a massive layoff in April 2020. Every job was on the chopping block. Yet when it came down to it, his position was tagged “safe.” In the ensuing mass terminations nearly one third of the workforce was relieved of their duties.
During that same time period our car insurance came due, but the promised stimulus check we had earmarked to pay for it had not yet arrived. The very day the payment was due, I checked our bank account and found that our stimulus check had been deposited. As Isaiah 65:24 says: “It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.”
Without fail, we have returned 20 percent of our income for the past 15 years. After I have subtracted funds from my account, I find that God has added it back. When I divide out the portions allotted for tithe, offerings, bills, and savings, God multiplies my savings. We live on 80 percent of our income only because God fills 100 percent of our needs.
Now, every other Friday, neighbors can often hear me singing at the top of my voice, “You can’t beat God’s giving, no matter how you try!”
