A Blessing or a Curse by E. K. Slade

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 30, 1913

A Blessing or a Curse

By E. K. Slade

Gospel Finance—No. 14

A Blessing or a Curse

E. K. SLADE

“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. 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.” Mal. 3: 8-10.

These direct and clear-cut utterances should mean much to a people who take the Lord to say what he means and to mean what he says. The question, “Will a man rob God?” should be read with proper emphasis on certain words in order to get their full force. For a man to rob his neighbor is a grave wrong. It seems even worse for him to rob a friend or a benefactor, but for a man to rob his Maker, from whom every gift comes, is the worst kind of robbery. The Lord appeals to the consciences of mankind by the pointed question and by setting forth the results of obedience and disobedience. With most men there must be a quickening of the conscience as related to the question of tithes and offerings. Men who would shudder at the thought of taking any amount of money from a man seem to have no sense of guilt when they make it a common practise to take that which God claims and requires, and appropriate it to their own use. Professed Christians will do this and appear to treat the words quoted above as meaningless. Men will become careless in their accounts and in accurately reckoning their tithes when they would feel required to be exact to the penny in settling an account with a man in a business transaction. The slack, haphazard, and dishonest way in which men have handled their accounts and made their remittances to the Lord’s treasury indicates a misconception of or a shameful indifference to the claims and requirements of God in this matter.

The words, “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me,” should have a startling effect upon those who have failed in this particular. The curse of God should be no part of a Christian’s experience; and as long as he is in such a condition, there is something seriously wrong with his Christianity. It is altogether out of harmony with the gospel plan as to its functions and its fruits, yet there are those who seem contented to enjoy or endure such a Christian experience.

In order to have his people have a more vivid sense of the sin involved in their covetous practises, the Lord makes the appeal: “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.” These words are deeply significant. The nature of the sin of robbing God has been pointed out; and now, as if to make a final effort to have his people see the seriousness of their course, he asks them to prove him by bringing all the tithes into the storehouse to see if he will not recognize and reward their faithfulness by bestowing bountiful blessings instead of the curse.

No Christian can afford to be under the curse, nor can he be contented to be without the blessing. Much less can he afford the double loss. As we have already shown, God’s requirements in his plan for financing his work in the earth are not for the purpose of enriching himself, but they are for the purpose of being a blessing to his people. His whole purpose is to bestow blessings upon us. The curse he would not have us experience. For us there is a curse to be escaped, and a blessing to be enjoyed. Should not the remnant church enjoy the fulness of the blessing, and be fully freed from the blighting curse?

Mount Vernon, Ohio.