Testing God is almost always discouraged in the Bible. For instance, in Matthew 4:7 Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy: "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" In the book of Acts, after discovering some questionable donations, the apostle Peter asks a woman named Sapphira, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?" The consequences of her actions were severe.

However, there is one notable exception. There is one area in life where not only are we given permission to test God, but He specifically commands us, “Test me in this!”

This exception is in the area of tithing. The word "tithe" is derived from the Hebrew word ma’aser, and it literally means “a tenth.” The idea of tithing is that we give back to God the first ten percent of all that He has given to us. In Malachi 3:10-11, God says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

First of all, we must understand that God doesn't need our money. He owns everything. Tithing is not for God’s benefit, but ours. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” A defining characteristic of God is that He is giving. We, on the other hand, are sinfully selfish. The truth of the matter is that giving does not come easy to us. For this reason, God wants us to practice a spiritual discipline of regular giving. Doing so helps us to become more like Jesus, teaches us to put God first in our lives, helps our faith to grow, and causes us to be directly involved in the ministry of the church.

It takes faith to give to God first, but God wants us to learn to trust Him. He tells us in Proverbs 3:9-10, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops and then your barns will be filled with overflowing." We give first and the blessings of God follow.