How Does Prosperity Test Our Faith?
Could having more actually make it harder to trust God? Abundance brings its own spiritual dangers, but when we remember that everything we have comes from God, generosity becomes more than an obligation—it becomes an act of gratitude, trust, and worship.
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6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein." Psalm 24:1
A stewardship series is not primarily about money. God is not primarily interested in getting something out of your wallet. He's much more interested in getting something significant into your heart. But because money has a remarkable ability to reveal what has our heart, Jesus talked about it frequently. And Deuteronomy 8 gives us one of the most important frameworks in all of Scripture for understanding why.
Remember Who Gave You What You Have
Moses is speaking to Israel on the edge of the promised land. For years they've wandered—hungry, thirsty, uncertain, waking up in the morning not knowing where the next meal would come from. They know what it's like to have nothing. And now Moses says, in effect: you're about to enter a land of abundance.
The description is extravagant—brooks and springs, wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates and olive trees, silver and gold. A land where they will eat without scarcity and lack nothing.
But notice what Moses does. He doesn't merely warn them about poverty. He warns them about prosperity.
"Take care, lest you forget the Lord your God... lest when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them... then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God." Deuteronomy 8:11-14
Abundance can create spiritual amnesia. We start remembering the paycheck but forget the provider. We remember the promotion but forget the One who gave us the ability to work. We remember the harvest but forget the One who created the seed.
It's like a father who takes his little boy fishing for the first time. The father provides the boat, the rods, the bait, the fishing license, the lunch—and knows exactly where the fish are. After several hours, the boy catches the biggest fish of his young life and exclaims, "Look what I did!" The father smiles, because he knows the truth. And Deuteronomy 8:18 names it plainly: "You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth."
The paycheck didn't give you your ability. The economy didn't. Your employer didn't. Your education didn't—not ultimately. That came from God.
Abundance Begins with God, Not Us
Psalm 24:1 doesn't say some of the earth belongs to God. It says the earth is the Lord's, and then adds the fullness thereof. Everything. The house belongs to God. The car. The bank account. The paycheck. The talent. The strength in your body. The next breath you take.
Before you ever gave God a single dollar, God gave you everything you have.
This changes how we understand tithing. Tithing is not primarily about determining what belongs to God—everything already belongs to God. Tithing is a biblical pattern of acknowledging that reality. It's a way of saying, Lord, I haven't forgotten. It's not buying God's favor, and it's not a spiritual investment scheme. It's an act of confession: You are the owner, and I am a steward.
There is a world of difference between those two postures. An owner says, "It's mine." A steward says, "It's been entrusted to me." When you confessed Jesus Christ as Lord, your resources became an assignment. Your money has a mission. Your home has a mission. Your influence, your time, your abilities—all of it has a mission. And one day the question will not simply be how much you accumulated, but what you did with what you were entrusted with.
Rooted in His Lordship, Not Led by Anxiousness
When conversations about money arise, anxiousness often rules over rootedness. We worry about inflation, retirement, medical expenses, college, mortgages, interest rates. Will there be enough?
But fear lies. Fear says, "Hold on tighter." Faith says, "Trust God deeper." Fear says, "If I give, I won't have enough." Faith says, "God reigns on His throne, and He will meet all my needs." Fear causes clenched fists. Faith teaches open hands before a living God.
A tree doesn't survive a storm because it has a good-looking trunk. It survives because of its roots. In a storm, the branches may sway violently—but underneath, the roots hold. That's a picture of a life rooted in what is eternal rather than what is circumstantial.
Some of us have been trying to survive life's storms by strengthening our branches—making more money, controlling more circumstances, building bigger savings, accumulating more possessions. None of that is inherently wrong. But it cannot be your root system.
Here is the kingdom axiom: money makes a terrible root. Markets fluctuate. Jobs change. Cars break. Houses need repairs. Bodies age. Circumstances change. But God does not change. The Apostle Paul, locked in a prison cell, had learned the secret: "I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content." (Philippians 4:11) His security wasn't rooted in money or circumstances. It was rooted in Christ.
Tithing Teaches Us to Put God First
One consistent pattern throughout Scripture is first fruits—honoring God with the first portion, not the leftovers. The principle is straightforward: if we wait to give until the end, there's usually nothing left. There's always another bill, another repair, another emergency, another desire. Leftovers disappear.
Giving first is intentional worship. We don't give because we have extra. We give because God comes first.
A farmer doesn't eat all his seed. He sets aside the first portion for planting, because without it there's no harvest next year. What leaves his hand now is invested in what's coming. Biblical generosity works the same way. What leaves our hand is being planted for purposes we may not fully see—and in the process, God is changing us.
Giving first breaks the power of materialism. It reminds us we are stewards, not owners. It strengthens trust and faith. And it allows what God has placed in our hands to become part of something much larger than ourselves.
Generosity Is a Response to Grace
The greatest reason we give isn't that the church needs money. The greatest reason we give is because God has given us His grace.
God did not give us leftovers. God gave us His Son. Jesus did not come because humanity had earned Him. He came because God loves us. At Calvary, He held nothing back. He gave His body. His blood. His life.
When you stand beneath the cross, you cannot honestly say, "God, I've given you so much." The cross reminds you that everything begins with what God has already given.
You were lost—He gave you salvation. You were under judgment—He delivered you. You were separated from God—He gave you reconciliation in Jesus. You were spiritually dead—He gave you new life. You had no way back—He made one.
Christian giving, rightly understood, is never "God, look how generous I am." It is "God, look how grateful I am." Those are entirely different postures, and the difference reveals where our hearts actually are.
The theme of Deuteronomy 8 runs in both directions. In poverty, we can rely deeply on God. Scarcity has a way of making us pray. But Jesus doesn't say prosperity is wrong. He says: beware in it. When we experience God's blessing, it should fuel worship. And when it does, we discover that the words of Deuteronomy 8:10 become our own: "You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you."
The earth is the Lord's. All of it. And everything we have is a gift from the One who owns it all.
TL;DR
Everything we possess ultimately belongs to God.
Our income, abilities, possessions, opportunities, and even our lives are gifts entrusted to us, shifting the question from what we own to how faithfully we steward what God has placed in our hands.
Prosperity presents a spiritual danger that scarcity often does not: when our needs are met, we can begin to forget the One who provided for us.
Abundance should deepen our gratitude and worship rather than convince us that our own strength produced what we have.
Giving reminds us that we are stewards rather than owners, loosens materialism's grip on our hearts, strengthens our trust in God, and allows what He has entrusted to us to serve His purposes.
Christian generosity ultimately begins with grace, not obligation. God did not give us His leftovers—He gave us His Son—and the cross transforms giving from “look how generous I am” into “look how grateful I am.”
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