I am the wife of a workingman who is not a Christian, and who is opposed to my giving anything to God. How am I to act regarding giving a tenth? I have no money of my own,--only what is given me for housekeeping.
There are many thousands of godly women in the very same condition as that which you describe; yet the circumstances of each one are different from all the others. In any case, one should be intimately acquainted with the details of all the circumstances, before venturing to give definite advice; and no one can know these so well as the one directly concerned. Consequently, all that I can say to you must be of a general nature.
In the first place you may be comforted with the thought that God does not require impossibilities, except when He himself expects to perform them; and if there be first a willing mind: "It is accepted according to that a man has, and not according to that he has not." (2 Corinthians 8:12)
This 8th chapter of 2 Corinthians really covers the whole question. It presents the case of the churches in Macedonia, "in a great trial of affliction, [yet]...the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." (2 Corinthians 8:2)
This does not say how much they gave; they may have given an amount much less than that given by some others; for God does not count as men count. You remember that the poor widow who gave a farthing gave more than all the rich men who cast of their superfluity into the treasury; for her whole heart went with it. Notice that the Macedonians first: "Gave their own selves to the Lord." (2 Corinthians 8:2)
When this is really done, the problem of giving is solved; for if one gives himself, all that he has or may acquire is of course the Lord's. We must guard against deluding ourselves with the thought that giving ourselves is a substitute for giving means to God; there can be no real giving of self that does not also include everything we have; and when that is done, we shall be watchful to see every opportunity that is provided, and we may be sure that there will be some.
I cannot tell you how you can have money to give to the Lord, for it is impossible for me to know all the circumstances; they vary with each person, and from day to day. But I can make a few suggestions about giving, that may be helpful to you. First, however, remember that: "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work; ... Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness." (2 Corinthians 9:8,11)
Believe this, and you will find the answer to your question as to how you can give to the Lord:
• You may find some means unexpectedly coming into your hands; or
• You may find where you can lessen expenses without in any way diminishing the necessary supply of food;
• You may be able to purchase more cheaply than you expect; or
• You may find that some article that you supposed was necessary is really needless, and that by doing without it, or substituting something else for it, you will have some extra money, and still be much better provided for than before.
In one of these ways, or in some other, God will enable you to give something; and the very means by which He enables you to give will prove a personal blessing to you.
This is, after all, the real reason why God asks us to give. We cannot enrich Him. He has no need of anything, and if He were hungry He would not tell us, for the earth is His, and the fullness of it. (Psalm 50:12) King David probably made greater gifts for the building of the temple, than any other man ever gave; yet he said: "Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of You, and of your own have we given You." (1 Chronicles 29:14)
All is from God, but He permits us to give back to Him of His own, in order that we may know the grace of giving. By it He makes us able to appreciate to some extent the blessedness that He experienced and does still enjoy, in giving himself for us; for He has said that "it is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:35)
And here I am reminded of a wish that is often expressed, and which is in your mind, namely: "I wish that I had some way of earning money, so that I could feel that I am giving of my own."
It is a natural wish, and yet it is not wholly right; for from the scriptures already quoted we can see that God does not wish us to feel that we are giving of our own. He certainly does not wish us to feel what is not so; and the truth is that we have not, and cannot have, anything of our own to give.
People often look upon a little child's gifts with a sense of amused superiority, as though it were only playing at giving, when it simply hands over to the contribution box the penny that has been given it for that purpose; but they have no business to feel that way. The child shames us. It gives freely, not merely a part of what it has received, but even all of it, while we often grudgingly give only a part; and, moreover, the tiniest and most helpless child earns whatever it receives, just as truly as the strongest and most active man does.
Whatever we have is given to us, no matter how hard we work, just as truly as the little child's penny is given to it; but whereas the child takes its gift and unselfishly passes it on, we often selfishly eat our gifts up ourselves, as though we were afraid we should never have anything more; as though our lives depended on our holding fast to what we get.
Right here again comes in another mistaken idea. We say: "O yes, the child can well give away even all that is given to it, because it knows that it is not at all dependent on that gift, but that all it wants will be supplied aside from that."
Exactly; and the fact that we do not think that our wants will be supplied even though we should give away all our living, shows that we have not that childlike simplicity and trust that must characterize all "the children of the kingdom" (Matthew 13:38; Mark 10:14-15) of heaven. We do not trust our heavenly Father as the little child trusts its father. We have too much pride and unbelief, too much of the spirit of "independence;" and although we cherish these feelings, we get no comfort from them.
How much better we should feel, how much more secure and restful, if, instead of feeling that now as adults we are "thrown on our own resources," we should be as confidingly dependent on God as the child is upon the father. "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. We are taught to be just as trustful." (Luke 18:17) "Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they? ... "Your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things." (Matthew 6:26,32)
You say: "How could I give away all that I have for my family's living for any day?"
I do not know, and I do not say that you should. Indeed, if I were so thoughtless as to advise it, it would be wrong for you to act upon it. You must never give anything because somebody advises you to, or because people think you ought to, but because your heart makes you willing. "Take from among you an offering unto the Lord: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the Lord; gold, and silver, and brass, ... And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all His service, and for the holy garments." (Exodus 35:5,21)
God alone can make you know when and how much to give, and the better we know Him the more simple and childlike will our giving be, and the more shall we see His wondrous working in supplying all our need "according to His riches in glory." (Philippians 4:19)
Before we part I must say just a word directly on the payment of the tithe, as it affects your special case. You have no money except that which is given you for housekeeping, yet no matter how great or small the amount, one tenth of it belongs to the Lord, and not to you or to anybody else.
Suppose you knew that a part of the money that is handed to you each week had been stolen; would you use it? Of course you would not. Now your husband does not know of or acknowledge the Lord's right to the tithe; but the fact is that, whether one knows it or not, withholding God's tithe is as truly robbery as it would be to appropriate trust funds. Many are unconsciously guilty of robbing God, and He has said that a curse surely follows such a course. "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour 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, says the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightsome land, says the Lord of hosts. Your words have been stout against me, says the Lord. Yet you say, What have we spoken so much against you?" (Malachi 3:9-13)
You need nothing further as to your duty; the next question is, can you do it, and trust the Lord for the consequences? You know that the principle of the tithe is that we are wholly dependent on God, and that nine-tenths of our income, or even nothing at all, with the blessing of God, is better than the whole without it.
Read again the text just referred to, and see what God says to those who are wholly faithful to Him. Do not make any experiments; it is not good to tempt God; but decide for yourself in His fear what is right, and what you are sure He will enable you to carry through, and then "do as occasion serves you." (1 Samuel 10:7) "Whatsoever He says unto you, do it." (John 2:5)--Present Truth, December 6, 1900.