Are You Robbing God?

ARE YOU ROBBING GOD?

“Are you a robber?” A question that may sound harsh, even offensive, to many people. After all, who among us would consciously and openly admit that we are robbers?

We often imagine a robber as someone carrying a weapon, wearing a mask, breaking into houses, or hijacking vehicles to take other people’s possessions. But in the light of God’s Word, the meaning of “robbing” can go much deeper, touching unseen spiritual aspects of our lives.

Let us reflect more deeply on how, knowingly or unknowingly, we may have robbed God—and how His grace is still available for us.

I. Withholding Tithes: Robbing Holy Blessings

Malachi 3:8 says, “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.”

God Himself spoke about His people robbing Him—not with weapons or violence, but through negligence, disobedience, and unwillingness to return what belongs to Him. The word “rob” here comes from the Hebrew ????? (qaba?), which literally means to rob, seize violently, or plunder.

When we withhold tithes—whatever the excuse—we are not merely withholding money; we are withholding glory, blessings, and opportunities for God’s Kingdom to grow. We are robbing God of His rightful portion of the blessings that come from Him. We rob others of the chance to hear the gospel. We rob heaven’s treasury.

The Spirit of Prophecy counsels in Counsels on Stewardship, p. 66:

“As did Abraham, they are to pay tithe of all they possess and all they receive. A faithful tithe is the Lord’s portion. To withhold it is to rob God. Every man should freely and willingly and gladly bring tithes and offerings into the storehouse of the Lord, because in so doing there is a blessing. There is no safety in withholding from God His own portion.”

Abraham, the father of faith, gave tithes as an act of faith and honor. So when we withhold it, it is not only a financial issue but a spiritual one—revealing whom we truly worship: God or possessions.

II. Forgetting the Sabbath: Stealing God’s Holy Time

Exodus 20:8–11 says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”

The Sabbath belongs to the Lord. Blessed and sanctified since creation, it is a sign between God and His people. Ellen G. White wrote in Child Guidance, p. 529:

“When the Sabbath commences, we should place a guard upon ourselves, upon our acts and our words, lest we rob God by appropriating to our own use that time which is strictly the Lord’s.”

The Sabbath is not only about ceasing from labor but about setting time apart for God. When we ignore it, we rob Him of the time He sanctified for communion with Him. We may spend it sleeping, vacationing, chasing profit, or simply idling.

By doing so, we also rob ourselves of the spiritual blessings promised to those who honor the Sabbath.

As Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2, p. 701 states: “Everything that can possibly be done on the six days which God has given to you, should be done. You should not rob God of one hour of holy time. Great blessings are promised to those who place a high estimate upon the Sabbath and realize the obligations resting upon them in regard to its observance.”

III. Neglecting Worship: Ignoring Growth Opportunities

Corporate worship is not mere routine. It is the fellowship of the body of Christ—a place for spiritual growth, faith strengthening, and love in community.

Hebrews 10:25 exhorts us: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Yet today many neglect worship—whether due to worldly pursuits, business, work, or even laziness.

In Christian Service, p. 214 we read: “Some, fearing they will suffer loss of earthly treasure, neglect prayer and the assembling of themselves together for the worship of God, that they may have more time to devote to their farms or their business. They show by their works which world they place the highest estimate upon. They sacrifice religious privileges, which are essential to their spiritual advancement, for the things of this life, and fail to obtain a knowledge of the divine will. They come short of perfecting Christian character, and do not meet the measurement of God. They make their temporal, worldly interests first, and rob God of the time which they should devote to His service. Such persons God marks, and they will receive a curse, rather than a blessing.”