For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. (Psalm 50:10 ESV)
Money and Faith
Money is an important part of our modern society. We use it to compare our status to other people, and other times. We use it to measure our success, whether personally, corporately, ecclesiastically, or nationally. We use it to transform our work into necessary provision, possessions, and property.
Historians write of a stone age, a bronze age, an iron age, an atomic age, and an information age. But these days, perhaps the best description of our mindset, framework, and worldview would be to label our times the money age.
Unlike pecan pie, sleep, and socks, all of which we enjoy but usually acknowledge that there is certain point of sufficiency, there is never enough money.
Economists tell us it takes money to make money. Taxation officials tell us that it takes money to protect our money. And even philosophers and artists admit that money makes their world go around.
Older folk dream of leaving money as an inheritance. Younger folk dream of having enough money to accomplish their vision. In between, folk scheme to find money, skimp to save money, plan to find money, and dream of no longer having to dream about money.
In Psalm 50, God surprisingly declares that He does not really care about the offerings that the Israelites were presenting to Him. God’s point is not to discourage the tithe. Rather, God is making two astounding claims.
First, God knows the hearts and minds of those giving offerings. And He has found that the Israelites were giving physical offerings instead of giving their lives, their devotion, their submission, and their love to God. Which is what God deserves, relishes, and asks. If the Israelites had been giving their love first, and following up with physical gifts, they would have shown they understood relationship with God. But instead they faked it. Being showy. Being obvious instead of real.
Second, God does not need their offerings, because everything in every field is already God’s. Our fields are His. Our counties are His. Our States are His. Our nations are His. This planet is His. The solar system is His. The Milky Way is His. The universe is His. When we read the number 1000 in the Bible it is usually symbolic of a vast, uncountable, gigantic amount of something. In Psalm 50, the Psalmist is telling us that God… owns… everything.
Unlike many of us, God is not a hoarder. He owns everything, and He lets us have it. Not like Ebenezer Scrooge, giving grudgingly. Not like the First Mercantile Bank and Loan, requiring repayment and interest. Not like a selfish little brother, giving only to ensure a return gift at the reciprocal birthday.
But He loves us. And so He has given us to from His vast storehouses what He knows we need.
Sometimes it does not seem like enough. Sometimes it does not seem like the right stuff. Sometimes we do not see in our coffers what our understanding indicates we should have. But HE is God. His ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:9)His ways are better.
From Eden given to Adam, the less beautiful land given to Abraham, the sheep given to David to tend, the kingdom of Israel given to Josiah, a carpenter’s shop given to Joseph, a tentmaker’s shears given to Paul, a home on an island given to John… God has always given His people exactly what they needed.
Not the things that make them immediately happy, but the things HE knows they need to bring them necessarily and joyfully to Jesus.
When we do not have enough… rejoice in what He has given us and find the path in those things that drives us to Jesus. Believe that just as He has always distributed His stuff in the best ways, He continues to do just that.
Take the faith God grants us.