Morning, October 26
Go To Evening Reading
“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.”
Haggai 1:9
Churlish souls stint their contributions to the ministry and missionary
operations, and call such saving good economy; little do they dream
that they are thus impoverishing themselves. Their excuse is that
they must care for their own families, and they forget that to neglect
the house of God is the sure way to bring ruin upon their own houses.
Our God has a method in providence by which he can succeed our endeavours
beyond our expectation, or can defeat our plans to our confusion and
dismay; by a turn of his hand he can steer our vessel in a profitable
channel, or run it aground in poverty and bankruptcy. It is the teaching
of Scripture that the Lord enriches the liberal and leaves the miserly
to find out that withholding tendeth to poverty. In a very wide sphere
of observation, I have noticed that the most generous Christians of
my acquaintance have been always the most happy, and almost invariably
the most prosperous. I have seen the liberal giver rise to wealth
of which he never dreamed; and I have as often seen the mean, ungenerous
churl descend to poverty by the very parsimony by which he thought
to rise. Men trust good stewards with larger and larger sums, and
so it frequently is with the Lord; he gives by cartloads to those
who give by bushels. Where wealth is not bestowed the Lord makes the
little much by the contentment which the sanctified heart feels in
a portion of which the tithe has been dedicated to the Lord. Selfishness
looks first at home, but godliness seeks first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness, yet in the long run selfishness is loss, and
godliness is great gain. It needs faith to act towards our God with
an open hand, but surely he deserves it of us; and all that we can
do is a very poor acknowledgment of our amazing indebtedness to his
goodness.