We obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord.
– Nehemiah 10:35
A simple verse, a simple picture, demonstrating how God’s people, when they receive God’s grace, God’s blessing, first and foremost want to give back to God for the work of God out of the overflow of His grace in their lives. They say, “We want to give our first fruits of our ground, the first fruits of all fruit of every tree, we’re going to bring to the house of God.”
Nehemiah 10:35 teaches us to honor God with our resources.
Just think about what kind of effect this would have on their lives, on their hearts, on their minds, on their whole perspective on life whenever God would bless them with the fruit of a tree or the fruit of the ground that the first thing they would do was set apart some for the house of God to glorify God, to praise God for His grace in their lives, to remind them that He was the ultimate reason why they had these things and they were stewards of the blessing God had given to them.
As a result, the house of the Lord and the work of the Lord would flourish through their giving, through their offerings. And I just want to ask you, are you giving the first fruits out of the overflow of God’s grace in your life? Is your first and foremost priority to be to give to God, to His work, to the worship of His name?
And yes, this applies to our financial resources. As you receive blessing financially, and materially from God’s hand… Are you first and foremost giving away the first fruits of what you receive to God’s work? I want to encourage you to build that discipline into your life… That as soon as you receive something from God, you immediately give out of the overflow of that grace. Apply this across all of your life. At the first fruits of your time… Are you giving your best time to God to wake up in the morning with the breath you’ve been given for that day and to say from the very beginning, “Oh God, first and foremost, I want to fix my eyes on you,” In a way that then changes your perspective on your life and your heart and your mind all throughout your day?
Nehemiah 10:35 encourages us to steward our resources to the glory of God.
Don’t give God your leftovers. Give God the first fruits of your life. It will change your perspective on life. At the same time, your first fruits, your time, your money, your resources… Will be used to bring glory to the God who is pouring out His grace on you in so many ways. So God, help us in each of our lives to give you our best. May the first and foremost priority in our lives be seeking you, glorifying you… And giving to you out of the overflow of all you have given to us.
We confess, oh God, you are the owner of all things. All of our possessions belong to you. And so we want to steward them well. We pray that in each of our lives, you would help us to steward them well… By first and foremost giving them away to your work… To the building up of your people for the glory of your name. And God, we pray that you would keep us, guard us. Don’t let us grow content in giving leftovers to you.
Prayer for the Tindi People
I pray that this picture of first fruits in Nehemiah 10:35 would mark each of our lives and our giving of what you’ve given to us. God, we pray specifically today for the Tindi people of Russia… This unreached people group in the mountains of Dagestan bordering Georgia and Chechnya. God, we pray for the spread of your grace and your blessing… Your love, your glory among the Tindi people of Russia. And we pray, oh God, that you would use our resources, our time right now praying… The money we’ve been given to spread the gospel to people like the Tindi.
Oh God, what would happen among the unreached peoples of the world if we started spending our money for their sake? God, help us to prioritize the spread of your glory in the world as you’ve called us to. We pray all this according to your Word in Nehemiah 10:35. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
