Paring It Down

My church is going through a building campaign, and we have been given the opportunity to contribute.  My wife and I have prayed over our decision since late last year.  During this time we never really discussed the actual amount, as we wanted to see what God was working out in our lives.

Recently, we did have that discussion.  As so often happens, we had the same number in mind, but then our humanity started getting in the way.  We rationalized that with so many changes going on, it was better to play it safe.  After all, we can always increase it later, right?

Then some of my pastor's words came back to me.  Are we giving out of reason or for revelation?  Reason asks, "What can I comfortably give?"  Revelation asks,"What does what God what me to give to glorify Him?"  We also looked back at our lives and saw how richly we have been blessed.  How can we give God any less than what He has asked?

Today we found out that our future may be financially different than what we thought it would be when we made our decision.  I am so glad we made the decision we did when we did.  If God had presented us with this kind of life altering moment earlier, I am afraid that it most likely would have changed our minds.  It would have been much easier to reason going with our 'human' amount instead of our 'God' amount.

The Old Testament is full of stories where God works with less than what humanly thought possible.  In fact, He's known for paring down numbers to make sure His people knew He was doing the work and not them.  In one of my favorites, Gideon goes from 32, 000 volunteers to 300.  300 men to fight 1 million.  The 300 win, and there is no doubt that it was God who actually won.

I'll be honest.  I'm a little anxious about what our future holds, but I am even more confident that God take will care of us.  He simply asks that we are obedient, and He will do the rest.