Prove Me Now - Part 1

Amen. I'm reading from two passages in the Old Testament. One is Malachi, the old book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament.

The other is Isaiah 58. And Malachi 3, just one verse in Malachi, Isaiah 58, a few verses here and there, beginning from verse one, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways.

As a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they? Wherefore have we fasted, say they? And thou seest not.

Thou seest not. Verse six, is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.

Then, then, then, shall I like break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of the Lord shall be thy re-reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer.

Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, the speaking vanity, and if, if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday, and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in thought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not, and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.

If, if thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Then one verse in Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, chapter 3, verse 10, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now, prove me now, herewith saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Initially, this verse seems to speak of God's people returning to faithfulness in tithing, but in its exact context, this call from God is for his people to return to a life of no compromise or irregularity when it comes to dealing with money, or anything related to finances or our material possessions.

It is a call from God for his people to return to a life of no compromise or irregularity when it comes to dealing with money, or finances, or anything related to their material possessions. I knew a very godly man in my country, a very wealthy man, and a very godly man in the land of South Africa, and he loves God. One of the companies he owns in our land is a bus company which transports multitudes of people from the rural areas to the cities, a great percentage being the poorer class, to find transport to their workplace when and if they can ever find work.

And this man shared with me how the heads of the bus companies, of the major bus companies of our country, a number of years ago now, it was all in the newspapers, a big dispute, how they decided that they were going to increase the fares drastically. They wanted to double them because of the economy collapsing, because of the value of our currency becoming so less than what it had ever been. And so this great gathering in this conference of heads and managers and owners of the companies sat discussing how they were going to implement this and its repercussions.

He said to them, at some point, we cannot do this. We dare not do this. No matter what you say of the economy or the value of our currency through devaluation, you're making good money.

Be honest. You're making great profit. My conscience will not allow me to increase the fares at all.