oes checking the mail make you cringe? Do you fear that dreaded utility cut-off notice or letter from the collectors? If you answer yes to these questions, chances are you probably don’t have a dime to spare. When your paycheck is barely enough to cover the basic payments, do you think, “I can’t afford to tithe?”

In these tough economic times, we often find it necessary to put “nonessentials” on the back burner. We forego plans to go on vacation, join a fitness club, buy a new piece of furniture or even replace a faltering appliance. Tithing to your church or other ministry may also fall low on your list of priorities.

But tithing is not a superfluous expense. It is an act of obedience and a statement of faith in God to provide for all of our needs. We may not be able to afford many things, but we cannot afford not to tithe.

Malachi 3:8-9 offers a reality check to anyone who feels exempt from tithing due to economic hardship. “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me.” The truth of the matter is when we fail to tithe, we rob God and we rob ourselves.

But when it’s almost impossible to buy groceries or make that next mortgage payment, how do we muster up the courage to write a check for anything other than our basic needs? Tithing is, quite often, a very real sacrifice. But it is also an act of faith in the Lord’s willingness and faithfulness to provide for our needs. By tithing, we acknowledge that all we have is from the Lord and that we are willing to return a portion of our blessings to him.

Malachi 3:10 says, “‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. 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 enough for it.’”

This principle of giving and receiving played out in one woman’s life following her divorce. Unemployed and surviving on child support, she barely had enough money to live on, much less tithe. Nevertheless, inspired by a radio sermon on the relationship between tithing and blessings, she began to commit a certain amount of her income to God. She didn’t win the lottery or inherit some large sum of money, but her bills were always paid and food was always on the table. The “floodgates of heaven” poured sustenance out on her so that she and her children always had enough.

Another woman experienced the reverse. After being laid off from her job, she found herself scraping by on her meager savings. With her focus squarely on getting her bills paid, she lost sight of God’s faithfulness to provide. Instead of continuing her tithing efforts, she crossed it off her list of priorities. Subsequently, her savings dwindled so low that she lost her apartment and had to move in with friends.

Jesus said, in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

I believe, based on God’s Word and my own and others’ experiences, that financial hardship is not an excuse for failure to tithe. The Lord has promised that when we give to him he will give back to us. When we press down and shake together a good measure of whatever income we receive, no matter how sacrificial it may seem, we will reap the benefits of giving to the only One entirely capable of meeting our needs.