9 Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;

10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

— Proverbs 3:9-10

10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the LORD of Hosts.

12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight,” says the LORD of Hosts.

— Malachi 3:10-12

You must walk in all the ways that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

— Deuteronomy 5:33

You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

— Deuteronomy 11:1

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

True human flourishing comes through honoring God with the priority and obedience He rightfully deserves. God’s people experience blessing as they follow their Lord’s ways. Success did not come through our busyness or diligent efforts. Let not our own to-do lists mattered more than God’s. The fruitlessness of our efforts may have been God’s purposeful unveiling of the wrong motivations that fueled our wayward focus.

Scripture does not teach that material blessings always represent God’s reward for our faithfulness or that barren seasons mean we are outside His will. Though God’s people often experienced physical blessings when they lived in obedience under the old covenant, those who flourish and rest in the Lord may possess His joy in every circumstance.