We recently had an interesting discussion in our minister’s training class. The question was asked, “Why did God put the tree in the Garden of Eden if He already knew Adam would eat the forbidden fruit? And if He gave Adam dominion over everything, why would put restrictions on him regarding that one tree?
Of course, the obvious suggestions abounded…. God wanted to test Adam; Man was created a free moral agent, so Adam made the choice to disobey God; Curiosity got the best of Adam and Satan tricked him into thinking he would become as God when he already was in the image of God.
After much discussion and insight, the truth emerged. Since God is the creator of all things, and everything belongs to him, He has the right to reserve whatever He wants for Himself. Such was the case with the tree in the midst of the the garden. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it was the “tithe” of the the garden. Yes. you heard me. God was establishing a principle that has and will endure. Think about it. Satan convinced Adam that he would have an advantage by eating of the forbidden fruit. It made sense to him that he needed to know good and evil, just as God did, when it was never Father’s intention for him to experience evil.
Likewise, it makes more sense in the natural that one could live better with 100 percent of his money rather than 90 percent. That’s the same trick the enemy uses to get us to bring the curse (evil) upon ourselves.
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Malachi 3: 8-9 (KJV)
So in essence, the first sin was touching the tithe. I never thought of it like that before. Many believers struggle with settling the tithing issue because bills keep coming. It always looks like there will never be enough, and as long as we rob God there won’t be. It’s one thing to steal, quite another to rob. Robbery is by force, with the victim present. So when we misapopropriate God’s funds, we forcefully take what belongs to him. It is this mishandling of the tithe that causes the rest to be cursed with lack and insufficiency. They say experience is the best teacher…well not this kind. Trust me. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. I don’t want to be caught on the wrong side of this T-Shirt:
