Proverb a Day: Day 9

READ PROVERBS 9

Another morning doing SOAP (Scripture-Observation-Application-Prayer) with my middle daughter, Priya. The above verse really spurred some good observations and discussion. Priya’s wisdom: “When you fear God and His ways, you become wise.” 

We also talked about what it means to fear God. It’s a concept that can be difficult to understand for little ones. How is God all loving but also to be feared? I told her that one of the ways that I fear God is with tithing. When we get paid each Friday, the first thing we do is pay our tithe because when I give God what’s His, He always provides the rest. 

There were times early in my career, when I had just started working, that I forgot to tithe or just didn’t make it a priority and you know what? Things were always tight. But whenever I did tithe, there was always enough. That’s faith.

I really have my maternal grandparents to thank for modeling tithing to my mom, and she and my dad in turn modeled this for me growing up. I remember as a kid in the ’70s – when there was no direct deposit –- my parents would be in their car at the bank humbly praying over their paychecks before depositing into their bank account. And they would always pay the tithe first because they, too, feared God.