Malachi 3:14: “Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit
is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked
mournfully before the Lord of hosts?”

Finally, the complainers reveal what their REAL problem is with the Tithe and the Offering. They view it as senseless, foolish, ineffectual, futile, without any real significance, value, or importance to serve God by keeping His ordinance.

Note that these complainers are referring to one particular ordinance they don’t like. The ordinance of the Tithe and the Offering. Going further, they ask “what profit is there for us in doing this?” Rather than joyfully doing what God has prescribed – they have done it grudgingly and mournfully, if at all.

Though they recognized that they were serving God by Tithing and Offering, they were not receiving the profit from it that they expected because they were doing their “service” mournfully, not joyfully.

God has provided man with a concrete way to know when he is serving God. He is then given the opportunity to be able to serve God through the ordinance of the Tithe and the Offering. That word “serve” will show up again soon in an even stronger context.

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