So yesterday my family and I went downtown and parked our van near Dunn Bros. Then we walked over to the bridge heading out of town and joined the throng of people checking out the river. The bridge was blocked off to traffic because 41 was flooded heading out of town, and there were hundreds of people taking advantage of the beautiful weather to get a look at the river at flood stage. It was a lot of fun and we ran into several people from the church and also made some new friends.
The river itself is not expected to crest until Wednesday and appears to be rising at a steady rate thanks to all the snow we enjoyed this winter. Thanks to the work of the town leaders in building up the dike over the last few years, there does not seem to be any danger of Chaska flooding, but the river is definitely at flood stage and it was interesting to stand on the bridge and watch the strong currents of the river as it stretched over it’s banks submerging fields, forests, walkways, and even the local baseball park.
Speaking of flooding, the Lord gives us a powerful promise in Malachi 3:10, “‘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.'”
Isn’t that a beautiful picture? God pouring out such a river of blessing that it overflows the river banks and floods the countryside of our lives. God is more than capable of meeting our every need and nothing is impossible with Him. This idea of tithing to the Lord even when we are struggling financially is counterintuitive, but we need to remember that we can never outgive God. He loves us more than we can imagine and He delights in giving us good gifts. As we are faithful in giving back to Him from the firstfruits of what He has given to us, He takes care of us in ways that we never could have even imagined. We need to recognize that we can fully trust in God to take care of us, even when our balance sheet is upside down. We need to give back to Him first, and trust Him to do what seems impossible. Then take a walk down to the riverbank and watch His river of blessing flood the countryside of our lives.
