Brought up in a pastor’s family, tithes and offerings are never new or burdensome to me. I always had money for offering in my Sunday-school school bag and I started tithing my ang-pow money since young. Recently God challenged me in different way leading me to a more personal experience of His goodness and faithfulness.

When I was in Form 5, I took 10 subjects for SPM – 9 of which were compulsory subjects and the 10th subject was Bible Knowledge (BK). Having attending Sunday school since young, I thought I would able to excel effortlessly. But to my surprise, I struggled with BK and even scored 36 marks in my Form 4 final semester exam and that was my poorest record. Hence, to avoid affecting the overall results, I was thinking about dropping BK and instead focus my revision on the 9 compulsory subjects.

God’s timing was perfect. Chinese New Year was approaching and we were taught about tithing in the youth fellowship that weekend. Daddy spoke about the importance of tithing and encouraged the youths to return our tithes to God from our ang-pow money. He shared from a passage in Malachi and pointed out something incredible.

Malachi 3:10
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

The Bible says we could test The Lord on the matter of tithing and see if He blesses us in return! ‘Wow!’ I thought, ‘That’s interesting.’ Tithing wasn’t new to me but the new discovery from the verse got me excited. As I was calculating how much I were to offer from my ang-pow money, the thought of dropping BK came to my mind and God asked me to reconsider my decision. At first I thought it was weird as this matter had nothing to do with tithing. But it did as I understood later. God wanted me to take BK as my 10th subject and to do it not for the sake of getting an ‘A’ but for Him – to know Him and to understand His word. It meant that I had to offer a tenth of my revision time and focus to Him. He was challenging me to tithe in my studies! To cut the long story of contemplation and struggle short, I obeyed.

Obedience did not take me directly to blessing. Instead, trials followed first. To start with, my BK teacher resigned and I had to attend lessons in another school outside school hours. Later, my new teacher was diagnosed with cancer and got so sick that we had no class for few months just before SPM. And, worst of all, the BK paper was scheduled on the same day as the very much dreaded History paper in the SPM timetable! Things seemed to fall on me but His constant reminder of His faithfulness pulled me through. Also, He gave me the kind of peace that only endurance during trials could bring, and the joy that comes from obeying Him despite not knowing the outcome.

On the day when the SPM results were announced, I got 9A* and 1A. When I found that I got an A* for Bible Knowledge I couldn’t feel more surreal. I was speechless and I stood in awe of Him and His faithfulness.

His blessings are beyond my imagination. I was granted the government bursary which covered my preuniversity fees. Had I not taken BK, I would have fallen short of the requirement by an A*. Though the bursary did not guarantee scholarship on the university level, it gave me a certain degree of advantage when applying for the JPA scholarship (a government sponsorship).

My college years in Methodist College, KL, where I had the most amazing years of learning, and the university application process is another story on its own. I was accepted into the University of Dundee in Scotland to do dentistry. And I was granted the JPA scholarship which covers my tuition fees and living expenses.

I did not perceive the big picture back then but He did. In fact, He planned it and I count myself undeservingly blessed to be involved in His plan.

It all began with a humble little decision to honour God by tithing in my studies. I give Him little but the best that I had and He gives extravagantly in return. God Himself says that we could test Him on the matter of tithes and offerings. And I did! He has indeed poured out so, so much blessings I don’t think I’ll ever have room enough for it. He is the good and faithful Father He’s promised in the Bible. His word is alive even to this day.

“My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen You.”

By Charis Sii Ning
Now studying in Scotland