By Benny Hinn
I'm so grateful that our relationship with God is an ongoing one, that He takes us literally "from glory to glory." And how glorious it is to be in an ever-deepening love relationship with our wonderful heavenly Father! Every day as I spend more time with the blessed Master in the Word of God and in prayer, I become that much more acquainted with His ways, that much more familiar with what is important to Him, that much more motivated to please Him in every way.
And as I become more and more acquainted with His Word, His will, and His ways, I become ever more convinced of the importance of tithing in our lives. Yet I sometimes talk to people - sincere, convinced brothers and sisters in the Lord - who say, "Tithing is part of the Old Testament law and not a requirement for believers today." Frankly, I cringe when I hear that. I fear that these good people are experiencing giving only as a requirement or demand when our heavenly Father wants us to experience it as a delight. No one requires us to give to someone we love - it happens naturally. It is delightful to give to those who have given to us first - and we experience this delight when we tithe.
But not only can people who interpret the Bible this way miss the joy, they also miss the fact that the very principle of the tithe was introduced with Adam, and Abraham tithed to Melchizedek. And so I want you to see in this chapter that from the very dawn of history, our heavenly Father has given us his best, and people who love Him give Him the best.
The word tithe refers to a tenth or a tenth part of something. So when I'm talking about tithing, I'm talking about the privilege and practice of giving 10 percent of our income to the work of the Lord.
Genesis 2 is a very familiar passage of Scripture, but have you ever stopped to really think about how wonderful the world was that the Father prepared for Adam? The Garden of Eden was wonderful far beyond description. What a blessing it was to him, to live, work, rest, play, and pray in such a beautiful place! But not only was it beautiful, it was as big as the entire Middle East! (Gen. 2:11-14) And it was his to enjoy - more than he needed, more than he could use, it was a lavish gift of love to him.
The Father endowed Adam with a magnificent mind capable of marvelous creativity and capacity such that he could name and remember the animals. And he had a body free from the experiences of age, disease, and death.
He enjoyed rich fellowship with the Father, who delighted in Adam so much that He loved walking with him in the cool of the day. Oh, how rich those times must have been! No other created being had known he kind of fellowship with the Father that Adam was privileged to experience.
The Father loved Adam so much that He anticipated Adam's need for help and companionship and created Eve. For even in the midst of the beauty of Eden and the wonder of close communion with the Father, it was still not good for Adam to dwell alone.
God cared for him in every way, and in the midst of their fellowship. God surrounded Adam with wealth, excellence, and magnificence. I love how Moses described just one element of its wonder: "And the gold of that land is good." (Gen. 2:12) Get the picture? Not just gold - good gold!
God gave Adam the wonderful garden to enjoy. Yet in the midst of all that God had given him, He warned Adam that one thing in the paradise was not his - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil:
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Gen 2:15-17)
In God's setting apart from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I believe that God established the principle of the tithe. Think about it for a moment: Adam was never forbidden to eat of the tree of life or anything else in the garden. So why would a God who had lavished such luxury on Adam forbid him to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? I'm convinced that the Father did this so that Adam would have an opportunity to demonstrate his love for God through obedience. What I'm about to teach you now is very important.
You and I cannot receive what is ours in Christ apart from obedience, and in establishing this law, the Father gave Adam a chance to obey. In great love, it's as if our heavenly Father was saying to Adam, "I love you, and this magnificent garden is yours to enjoy. But I want your love back, and the way you can show Me that you love Me is through obedience, so don't touch that tree."
In that sense, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was set apart to God - it demonstrates the principle of tithe to God. In a similar way today, I express my love to God when I give Him what is His (the tithe) and don't touch it by holding onto it for myself. What a privilege to bring joy to the heart of our wonderful heavenly Father!
