December 5, 2017
Go back with me in your mind to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve are in this perfect environment. The place is amazing. I mean, amazing! God says, “Look around. Enjoy the garden. Have a blast!” “But,” he said, “but … there’s this one tree I don’t want you to mess with. See that one tree … that one right there, in the center of the garden? That’s Mine. That belongs to Me. That’s My little portion of the garden. Have a blast with everything else. But don’t mess with that tree.”
Adam’s like, “Gotcha.”
Eve’s like, “Gotcha.”
But one day the evil one slithered up to Eve – I’m just saying picture it – the evil one slides on up. And he doesn’t say, “Let’s run far away from God and build our own treehouse on the other side of the garden.” No, no, that would be too obvious. What did he say? He pointed to God’s divine portion. He said, “Eat from that tree.”
Very important! She ate the divine portion, and because she ate the divine portion, what happened? She was cursed. Adam and Eve were cursed. They chose to be cursed. I thought that was fascinating.
The point is, from the beginning of time, God always keeps something for Himself: a divine portion. This is the way God always, always deals with human beings. Why? Because He wants to form a partnership with us. A partnership between you and God.
Let me put this in terms you can understand. Bill Gates. Microsoft. You know who I’m talking about, right? The guy is amazingly wealthy. What if Bill Gates came up to you and said, “What’s up, Bob? How’re you doing? Bob, I like you. You’re my man. You look good. You smell good. Bob, I want to do something for you, brother. I want to form a partnership with you. Here’s how it works. I’m going to give you 90% of my wealth, 90% of Microsoft. Just give me 10%. That’s my portion.”
Would you turn down that deal? Would anyone refuse that? I’d be like, “I’ll do that deal!” I’d be doing somersaults and stuff.
Well, that’s exactly the deal that God made with Adam and Eve. And, folks, that’s exactly the deal God wants to make with you and me. Same deal. God says, “I created this great, big, beautiful world for you. It’s all for you! Have a blast! But there’s this one little part – it’s the divine portion. Don’t mess around with it. It’s mine.”
Well, that’s exactly the deal that God made with Adam and Eve. And, folks, that’s exactly the deal God wants to make with you and me. Same deal. God says, “I created this great, big, beautiful world for you. It’s all for you! Have a blast! But there’s this one little part – it’s the divine portion. Don’t mess around with it. It’s mine.”
If I had ten apples in front of me, these apples would represent the dollars I make. The Bible says this: Out of every ten apples I get, I give one back to God. How many? One. That’s called a tithe. A tithe is a tenth. The Bible says this: Out of every ten apples I get, I give one back to God. A tithe.
Why? Because God’s my partner. That’s His share. That’s the divine portion.
Now, of course, in order for this whole partnership to work … Trust is a must.
You say, “But I need that apple. I want all ten for myself!”
God says, “Trust Me. If you hand it to Me, I’ll give you back even more. Trust is a must.”
One Bible verse I tell myself every single day goes like this: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Make your paths straight means get you where you need to go straightaway.
So, look at that verse. What’s our part? Look at that verse again. What’s our part? Trust! Our part is to say, “Okay, God, I don’t know how this is all going to work, but I trust You.”
What’s God’s part? Keep my path straight. Get me where I need to go.
What’s the quickest way between Point A and Point B? A straight line. But when I lean on my own understanding, I have a tendency to wander over here, and, Oh! Something shiny! I run over there. And I tend to get way, way, way, way off course …
Now, why does God want me to trust? This is the exciting part, the part that gets me fired up. It’s all about love. God wants to bless me. God wants the best for me. The Bible again. Proverbs 16:20: Blessed is the man or the woman who trusts the Lord.
What does it mean to be blessed? To be on the receiving end.
And we will be, because of this amazing promise:
“Test Me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room for it.” (Malachi 3:10)