Blessed Giving

God knows your need.  Before you do. 

The Bible says that God made an agreement with His people.  In Deuteronomy He spells out His promise of blessings for obeying His Law.  If you are obedient in giving to Him, He promises His blessings will follow you wherever you go:  He will bless you in the city, He will bless you in the country, He will bless you when you’re going out, and when you’re coming in; He will bless everything you do; He “will grant you with abundant prosperity” for your faithful obedience. (Deut. 28:1-14)  We can label this agreement the ‘Law of Blessed Giving’. 

God never changes.  The promises He gave His people long ago have never changed.  And we have followed this promise for six decades:  “Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap.” (Luke 6:38) That is Blessed Giving.  Here’s an example:

Mid-morning one day, my friend, Carl, called to see if I could have lunch with him. He said he had something special to talk to me about. Carl was a businessman and real estate developer with whom I had cultivated a close friendship for over ten years.  

On this day he wanted to talk about an idea he had for building some houses.  The property he was considering was a block of six lots on a street where he had just built a house.  The lots were listed at $30,000 each, $180,000 for the entire block.  Carl learned that the owner was a woman he did not know, but he knew that she was a good friend of mine.  So, here’s what he wanted from me:  He asked if I would contact her for him to see if she might be willing to discount the price if he bought all six lots at one time.  He insisted that we hold this discussion in complete secrecy.  I assured Carl that I would speak with her as soon as I could reach her. 

Marg was a real estate developer with a reputation for being difficult.  But I had known her for several years, and ours became a long, interesting friendship. We spoke occasionally about some of her projects.  While I was out with Carl that day, she had called and left a message for me to call her ASAP.  The coincidence of her calling me while Carl and I were talking about her would soon be explained. 

Before I could make the promised call, she called me again in a breathless hurry.  She did not know Carl but she knew he had built a house on the street where she owned some lots, and she knew that Carl and I were friends.  So, she was calling me to ask if I would be willing to speak with Carl for her about the possibility of his buying six lots she had for sale.  She had a reputation to maintain and she did not want him to know that she was needing money quickly. Swearing me to secrecy, she needed $155,000 by the end of the week to lock up a piece of ground ahead of another developer. 

She had devised a plan for me to help her raise the needed cash: I was to inform Carl that I had learned she had these lots for sale, and I was pretty sure he could buy them all for $165,000, discounted from the asking price of $180,000.  And if he agreed to buy those lots at that price, she wanted to pay me for my effort: a “finder’s fee” of 6% of the sales price. That would leave her with $155,100.  Again, she wanted strict secrecy for this deal, and it was urgent that I get back to her, ASAP.  I assured Marg that I would speak with Carl as soon as I could reach him.

Later that same day I told Carl that Marg would discount those lots if he bought all six.  I started to relay her offer, but he interrupted to tell me his offer:  He would pay $165,000 for the six lots, and he would pay closing costs, and he wanted to do the deal today.  I was sworn to secrecy–I could not tell him that was her exact asking price, but I told him I would get back to her with his offer.  In a few hours, hearing what they both wanted to hear, Marg and Carl had their people set up the closing for the next morning, both feeling good about the deal.  That afternoon Marg brought us a bank check for $9,900.00, thanking me for my “hard work”, convincing Carl to make the deal so quickly.

Here’s the reason for this story: while I was having lunch with Carl that day, a certified letter from the Internal Revenue Service arrived.  It informed us that a routine review of a previous tax return revealed an error had been made: We owed the IRS a total of $9,842.00.

The Lord knew that need was coming before we did, and it was He who had orchestrated the entire proceeding. That money just landed in our “lap” as promised in Luke 6:38.  I wanted to tell Marg and Carl, but I could not. They both had insisted on secrecy, and they never knew.  But now you know the whole story.