“I’m not going to go to church today,” Silu said to his young wife, Grace.
“Why not?” she asked, perplexed.
“We don’t have any food. I don’t want to sit in church hungry and then come home to no food for you, our son and myself. Besides, my flip flops are worn out. I’m embarrassed to wear them to church.”
As Silu sat contemplating their food situation, he remembered a verse often repeated in church as the offering was being picked up: “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse . . . Try me in this . . .” (Malachi 3:10). He was reminded how, if we are faithful to God in returning tithe to Him, He is faithful to provide for our needs. Silu had been paying tithe sporadically, but he hadn’t made it a priority. So he decided right then to “try” God’s promise.
Going to his brother-in-law, Silu asked, “May I borrow 50 pesos?”
“Why do you want to borrow money from me?”
Silu explained that he needed the money to go pay his tithe at church, and his brother-in-law agreed.
Later that day at church, still hungry and not knowing where his family’s next meal would come from, Silu put the borrowed P50 plus P60 of his own into the offering basket. Lord, he prayed silently, You told us to try You. So I’m trying You.
After church, Silu and his family returned home hungry. As they were sitting around wondering what to do, a friend came by. “Hey Silu, let’s go hike up to Iliyan [a tall rock face above Silu’s home] and look for monkeys.”
“Sure,” Silu replied. “I’m not doing anything else.”
“Let’s go by my house first, I need to get something,” his friend said.
At the friend’s house, a pot of steamed ubi roots was waiting. The friend grabbed a piece and handed the rest of the pot to Silu. “Eat all you want. I can’t finish all this.” Silu was overjoyed.
As they were hiking up to Iliyan, they passed another house where they were offered serwak roots, and Silu ate his fill. After enjoying their climb to Iliyan, they came back by a different route and passed another house where they were offered steamed ripe bananas. By this time Silu was really amazed. “Wow, God! You really are fulfilling Your word for me!” The verse continues on to say that there won’t be room enough to contain God’s blessing, and by the time Silu got home laden with food for his family, he couldn’t eat another bite.
The rest of the week went similarly for Silu. He got unexpected work opportunities and was offered more food, which he took home to his family. Each day, the Lord provided for him in a new way. By the end of the week, he had earned twice the money he usually does, and they had many gifts of food besides.
When Silu stood in church the following Sabbath morning, he had an inspiring testimony to share of how God’s word was true and how it had been fulfilled in his own life that week.
After Silu’s testimony in the Sabbath School program, the ladies and I met for our study of Revelation (one of their favorite topics), and I asked them if any of them had anything to share about how God had provided for them in the past week.
“I do!” Meyni spoke right up, and she told us her story:
Earlier in the week, she had asked her husband where the money was that they receive from the government. He told her it was all spent. She remonstrated with him, saying, “Aren’t we supposed to return to God a tenth of all we get, taking it out first before we spend the rest?”
Her husband shrugged. “Yes, I suppose that is true. But the money is all gone.”
Concerned, Meyni went to her purse where she had tucked away P100. Opening it, she found only P60. Her husband and children said they didn’t know where the missing P40 might be. “Well, I guess I will go and borrow P60 from my mother,” she said. “I don’t want to cheat God.”
Before visiting her mother, Meyni and her husband did some work in their field. When she came back to the house, she decided to look in her purse again. This time, in addition to her P60, she found a P20 bill she hadn’t seen before.
Again, she questioned her husband. “Where did this new money come from?”
“What do you mean? You said you had P60 left. Isn’t that what’s in your purse?”
“No, there is a P20 bill in there, too! Someone put money in my purse while I was gone!”
Later that day, Meyni went to their rice storage hut (legkew). Climbing up the ladder and opening the door, she gasped. Lying beside the piles of rice stalks was another P20 bill.
“And it was a brand-new P20 bill, too!” she told us. Feeling deeply blessed, she paid her tithe.
These are current testimonies of how God takes care of His faithful Palawano people who are still learning and trying to find their way.
Have you tried God recently?
