All my life, I’ve heard the phrase “you can’t out-give God.” As a child, I didn’t understand all the aspects of the phrase, but one thing I knew was that everything already belonged to God. I understood and believed He was the creator of life. He was at the beginning of everything and without Him was nothing made. In Psalms 24:1, we find David praising God and proclaiming the earth is His and everything in it. We find Paul repeating this in I Corinthians 10:26, and the author of Hebrews reiterating that thought in chapter 3 verse 4. We sometimes forget that anything that we claim as ours is given by Him and it is only ours to use for His glory.
Psalm 24:1-2 “A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.”
Hebrews 3:4 “For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God.”
God has always been a God that delights in giving to His children. He only gives good gifts and expects us to give a portion, as a token of our love and appreciation, back to Him. Malachi teaches us to bring a tenth of our earnings into God’s house so there may be meat. In other words, this gift is the means by which the man of God and the house of God, can be taken care of. He also gives a blessing to those who obey. I find it interesting that if we obey and bring a tenth, he will pour out more than we can contain. This is not a “health and wealth” gospel or a “give so you can get” plan. Other passages of scripture make it clear that we are to give out of a heart of love and we are to be cheerful givers. This again shows God as the giver that can’t be out-given.
Malachi 3:10 “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
When we look at Ephesians 3:20, we see how God loves to hear from us. He longs for us to bring our needs to Him. He reminds us again that He is able and desires to answer our prayers and give to us to an extent that we cannot express. We can’t outgive a God that exceeds all we can ask or think.
Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him, that is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”
I Corinthians 2:9 teaches us that no one has ever fully perceived or understood the things God has prepared for us here and in Heaven. Paul particularly is referring to the wisdom that is revealed in the gospel. We who are saved, understand to some measure what has been done for us. We know that we have been justified by faith in the finished work on the cross. We know that God is a God of mercy to have pity on our eternal soul, and love us enough to make a way that we could spend eternity with Him. As His child, we get to experience the joy and peace that comes from knowing Him. A peace that this world can’t understand. He gives us so much and yet; we still can’t comprehend the magnitude of those gifts.
I Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
What can you do for a God you can’t out-give? What do you give someone who has everything? You give yourself. God wants our hearts given wholly to Him. Our gift to Him is our love and obedience. That is all He desires. He longs to pour out His blessings on us as an earthly father who desires to give to his children. All are blessed because the Bible teaches in Matthew 5:45 that the rain falls on the just and the unjust. Those who are not surrendered to Him as their Master, still receive blessings from Him, but to get the full benefit of His blessings each must become His child through faith in His Son. We will never know the full extent of His gifts to us on this side of Heaven, but I challenge you today to stop and recognize the gifts He has given you, from the smallest drop of rain to the greatness of eternal life. Spend some time just praising and thanking Him for all He has done.
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