Deuteronomy 26 GIVING TO GOD The life of God's people is dependent upon Him for our very survival. We need to be constantly reminded that all we have we owe to Him. In order for this to be truly appreciated, there needs to be ways and times when we review the things, He has done for us, and the blessings we have received from Him. The Lord's Supper is a way we are reminded of the Lord Jesus Christ and review together with others His death on the cross and all that has come to us because of the sacrifice He made for us there. By having been given this way of remembrance, we are renewed in our appreciation of Him and reminded freshly of God's grace and goodness to us. By going over our lives with God from the first day we knew Him until now, we will be caused to appreciate our relationship with Him in a special way and can pass on to others what that means and what we have learned by experience. When an Israelite brought the first produce from his ground in a basket and set it before the Lord, he would have been appreciating the first evidence of the blessing of his new life in the promised land. His wandering days were over. He had reached this goal in his life and he acknowledged God as the Giver of every good gift. A testimony to the goodness of God that can be passed on to our family is of benefit both to the one who tells the spiritual history of their life and the ones who hear it.
To give a testimony as to God's goodness in saving us, His provision for us by the way since He saved us, and the blessings He has promised, is good and important. We should further give testimony to God's grace, that attribute of God that provides for us what we could never do for ourselves. His goodness adds His blessing to the work of our hands. His grace freely gives us that which we could never have without Him. As strangers to God and His grace, He has not in any way limited His grace to what we think we deserve. We are nor deserving of any of His grace. But He has saved us by His grace, and maintains us by His grace. In the future He will display the exceeding riches of His grace through us to watching angels and a watching world of the families on earth and in heaven.
The basket of first fruits would not only be a testimony to God's goodness and grace, but was also a testimony to His greatness. The produce to supply all we need comes from the ground beneath our feet in which the fullness of Lord is contained and released to bless us when we plant the seed. The words of testimony spoken by the person bringing the basket of first fruits, would be an audible expression of his appreciation of God and His blessings. Prayer and supplication go along with thanksgiving to God. This is an acceptable way of approaching our God of goodness, grace and greatness. That kind of testimony is probably one of the best ways we can pass on our faith in God to our children and to those to whom we seek to witness. Our history has value and hopefully it will inspire our children and grandchildren to have a spiritual history of their own of which they are not ashamed.
The care for the poor and needy in Israel had an order to it that was effective in making sure they were cared for. At the end of every three years, ten percent of a landowner's harvest was stored in the village where he lived so the Levites who served God, the foreigners who had no inheritance of their own and the widows and orphans could come and get food. Each landowner would bring his tenth and present it with a ceremony in which he publicly stated that he did not take from that tithe anything for himself for any reason. The tithe belonged to God. When we give to God that which we owe Him, we can trust Him to meet our needs as He chooses to from His knowledge of the needs we have.
Israel was a nation of high morals and high standards of conduct given them by God, which made them different from all the tribes living around them. That uniqueness would make them unusual even though they might have been comparatively small in number. The size of a group of God's people does not indicate the correctness of their practices. The standard of holiness maintained in an assembly is more important than the number of people who may attend. The comfort of those in a church meeting or the public success people may feel and the size of the crowd attending, doesn't indicate the rightness or wrongness of the church.
As individuals among the people of God, we need to continue our commitment to give God the proportion of what we have received to support the work of the assembly and its interests. Missionary endeavors are supported by the giving of God's people to those who labor abroad. The poor and needy in those places are in turn helped by God's people there. There are some poor and needy where we live who are dependent to a certain degree by those of us who are in a position to help meet their needs. A people who are holy unto the Lord, may not be understood by those who are not committed to the word of God and the work of God. However, that should not affect our responsibility to help meet the needs of others.
We may never know the outcome of our labor nor what has been accomplished when we give of our substance to the Lord. But it is not necessary that we know the outcome, we only know we are responsible to meet the need. Our Lord knows what we can give, what we do give, and where it needs to go. He knows who is most suitable to assure that it arrives at the place of need. We give; God guides; people are blessed and God is glorified.