“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and put Me to the test now in this,” says the Lord of armies, “if I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.”
Malachi 3:10
“Honey, what do you think about leaving Pennsylvania and going west so I can find some good work to support our family?”
With that thought, Alexander Kerr’s wife agreed, so he and his family moved west. They lived in Idaho for a while before landing in Oregon.
By 1902, the U.S. economy was suffering terribly, and Alexander had very little money because he could not find adequate work. The few available jobs didn’t pay well enough to meet his family’s needs, so feeding them became a challenge.
Tired, broke, and hungry one day, Mr. Kerr, who believed in God and the Bible, decided to put God to the test, so he prayed, “Dear Father in heaven, You know how little money I have for my family, but I choose to put You first. On everything I make, I will put 10% into the offering plate to further Your work.”
Immediately, he counted the money in his pocket and gave 10% on the pitiful amount. Nevertheless, he promised God that he would continue to return 10% of his income, no matter what.
Within three months, unexpected blessings began to happen. Alexander found a decent-paying job at a glass-making factory and knew he had experienced God’s love and fidelity. He continued to return his tithe faithfully to God.
When God provided him with enough money, Alexander Kerr bought his own glass-making business. He named it The Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corporation; one particular plant was in the heart of San Francisco.
Built along a fault line, San Francisco encounters many earthquakes. Every time an earthquake happened, the people would rebuild the city stronger and stronger.
At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, the earth shook so hard in San Francisco that everything the people had done to prepare for the “big” one still caught them by surprise.
Thousands died. Hundreds of buildings fell into heaping piles of rubble. Crevasses zigzagged through bricked streets, toppling buggies into them. The earth shivered for nearly a full minute, which is a long time for one earthquake. It caused gas lines to break, leading to uncontrollable fires that destroyed virtually everything the earthquake had not.
Alexander Kerr had invested everything in the glass factory. Out of fear, one of his financial advisors informed him of his impoverished assets. But Alexander Kerr had learned to trust God so much that he raised his fist and declared, “I cannot be ruined. Because if I am ruined, then God is ruined, and God cannot be ruined!”
Learning about the destruction in the newspaper, which was front-page news all over the country, Mr. Kerr took a train to San Francisco. When he arrived, a carriage and driver awaited him. As he went to see what God had done with his glass factory, he saw the crumpled city firsthand and was stunned by how bad everything looked. The newspaper photos could not depict the actual depth of the devastation.
Upon arriving at his property, he noticed that the chain-link fence surrounding it had been charred black by the fires. Carefully unlocking the gate, he peered inside. Incredibly, everything was just as workers had left it when they went home the night before the earth shook.
Not one of the giant propane tanks had exploded—they were exactly in place, ready to make more glass for jars. When they entered the storerooms and warehouses, not one window had a crack. Upon inspection of a room full of tens of thousands of glass jars, not one jar was broken.
When Alexander Kerr died, he had learned to trust God so much that he kept only 10% and gave God 90% of his income. God never asked that of anyone, but Mr. Kerr made the choice because the windows of heaven had been poured out on him, flooding him with financial blessings.
Call to Action
Are you putting “the whole tithe into the storehouse”? Everything we have belongs to God, and He asks for only one-tenth of it to be returned to Him. Many find it a trial to part with even 10%, but Malachi 3:10 reveals that we need to test God by putting that money into His work. When we do, we learn to trust Him like Alexander Kerr did. We don’t know what kind of blessings will overflow, but they will. They may not be financial as in Mr. Kerr’s situation, but Malachi 3:10 is a promise we can claim.
The Bible is full of stories of those who had nearly nothing, but they chose to put God first. Those efforts did not go unnoticed. In Luke 21:1–4, Jesus took note of the widow casting her last two mites into the temple treasury. He remarked that she gave more than the wealthy people who put an abundance of money into the church coffers because she gave everything she had to God. We don’t know how she was blessed, and the award for her deed may not be bestowed until heaven, but she too will receive a rich reward.
For some, giving 10% is easy, but others contend that they cannot live without the 10%. Is withholding the 10% trusting God with your finances? Accept His challenge. Test Him.
Scripture quotation taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman \ Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
