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The Blessedness of Giving

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Nov 17, 1904

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 46.

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The Blessedness of Giving

By Arthur Grosvenor Daniells

(Concluded)
On one occasion when Israel turned from God to idols, it is written of her: “She said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and flax, mine oil and my drink. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but she shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now. For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recovermy wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand. I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me? and I will make a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.” Hosea 2:5-12.
How plain it is that the power of the living God is secretly working to bestow his gifts in abundance, or to withhold them. In the book of Haggai, we have a most striking lesson before us: “Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, and there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.” Haggai 1:3-11.
On hearing this message “the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.” And immediately the Lord responded to the people, saying: “I am with you, saith the Lord.” And he stirred up “the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.” and the Lord said “the silver is mine, and the gold is mine, the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, . . . and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” Haggai 1:12-14; 2:8, 9.
Thus we see that, without being able to discern the secret working of God’s power, Israel could feel most keenly the results of the working of this mighty, hidden power. With this thought in mind, let us read farther: “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. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal. 3:8-12.
In this scripture the charge of robbery is preferred by the Lord against his people. But in mercy he directs them to cease the robbery by bringing to him all the tithes and offerings, and then promises in return to turn the tide and send them great blessings. His power to do this had been revealed to his people. “He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” “Yea, forty years did’st thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.” Ps. 105:37; Neh. 9:21.
These are the outward manifestations of the hidden working of that infinite power. It gives fertility to the soil, productiveness to the vines, rebukes the destroyers of the products, turns the streams of silver and gold in among his people, preserves their health, provides good food, and preserves their clothes from quickly wearing out. The way we should respond to all these facts, and what will be the sure result of such a response, are clearly stated by the apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 9:6-12: “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”
God has not given us all these promises and revealings of his working to appeal to our selfish motives, but to give us assurance. His people have ever been few and poor, but entrusted with a very great work that has required large sums of money. And they have always accomplished the work grandly when they have been surrendered to the will and working of God. The Lord has required of them what would have been utterly impossible from a human standpoint. This is true of us to-day. Our Leader is demanding from us that which is infinitely beyond our power, that which is humanly impossible. But praise his great name, when he sees faithfulness marking every move, and sees us at the limit of our possibilities, then he steps in and helps us to do the impossible.
Brethren, we ought to be the happiest, most earnest, and the truest people in this world. And toward gospel work we ought to be the most liberal, free people of any class on earth. We have special light from God. We have a definite message, and we have wonderful promises. O, let us arise and shine! Let us respond to the love of God. Let us go forward. And let us prove by deep experience the truthfulness of the word of the Lord Jesus, that it is more blessed, more satisfying, more noble, more profitable, to give than to receive.
A. G. DANIELLS.