Carlyle B. Haynes was an eminent evangelist, author, and church administrator during the first half of the twentieth century. We've reproduced this story just as he wrote it.—The Editors

One summer I conducted a series of evangelistic meetings in a large tent at Ninety-fifth Street and Broadway, New York City. To these meetings came an elderly Irish immigrant who was introduced to me as Miss Clancy. I've never met anyone who displayed a more positive confidence in the Bible than she did. She required nothing more than a clear "Thus saith the Lord" to instantly accept any truth.

During these meetings I delivered two sermons on tithing, making plain from the Bible that this requirement was for all who serve God. It soon became evident that Miss Clancy was disturbed. Her usual cheerful disposition was gone. She asked to talk with me, which, of course, I was happy to do. Although all this took place many years ago—in the summer of 1919, to be exact—I remember it clearly because it made such a vivid impression on my mind. I give you the details of our conversation and the events that happened later as accurately as if they had been recorded on tape.

"Pastor," Miss Clancy began, "your sermon on tithing has caused me deep concern, and I need to know what the Lord would have me to do."

"Is there something that isn't clear?" I asked.

"Oh, it's not that. It's clear enough, dear knows. That's the trouble. I know what the Bible says. What plagues me is whether it means me. And if it means me, how in the wide world am I to do what it says?"

"What do you mean about whether it means you?"

"I mean, can it possibly include anyone in my circumstances?"

"Well, Miss Clancy, of course—"

"Wait a minute, pastor. Don't answer me until you have the whole story. Before you tell me anything, just hear my situation and then tell me whether you think the Lord would have me pay tithe."

"Very well, Miss Clancy; I'm listening."

"I'm a lone woman, pastor. I have no folks in this country except a niece who lives with her husband in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He has no obligation to take care of me, but he does. All the income I have in the world is what he sends me each week."

"Do you mind telling me how much that is?"

"Six dollars a week."

"How can you manage on just six dollars a week?"

"Ah, that's it! How do I manage? I don't know, but somehow the dear Lord makes it cover my needs."

"Where do you live?"

"In a kitchenette apartment. I moved into it years ago when rents were lower, and the blessed landlord has not raised mine. I think he's sorry for me."

"How much of your $6.00 does your rent take?"

"It takes $4.50."

"Do you mean that all you have for food, clothing, and other necessities is $1.50 a week?"

"Sure, and that's what I mean."

"But it isn't possible to do it."

"Sure, and I'm doing it. And I can go on doing it. Only now you come along and tell me I must tithe my six dollars. And look where that leaves me."

"But I didn't tell you, Miss Clancy, that you must tithe your six dollars. It was the Lord who has cared for you all these years who told you. It is in His Book. I just showed it to you."

"Oh, I know that, but it comes to the same thing so far as I'm concerned. What I'm after is whether He means I should pay tithe."

"Why do you think He would make an exception?"

"Well, pastor, don't you see what this would mean to me? If I start paying tithe, that takes 60 cents out of my $6.00 to begin with. My rent remains unchanged. That, with the tithe, comes to $5.10. And I have 90 cents to live on. And for a week, pastor, for a week! Now that you know what this means to me, do you think the Lord wants me to pay tithe?"

My first impulse was to say, "No, Miss Clancy, I don't think the Lord means this for you. I strongly believe that the Lord and His work will manage to get along somehow without your 60 cents a week. Just keep it, and I'll try to do something to make things a bit easier for you."

But I didn't say that. An insistent thought prevented me: Who are you to set aside a command of God?

So I said, "Miss Clancy, all I can do is to point you to God's Book and His wonderful promises, and then encourage you to do as He says and trust Him to make the impossible possible. My advice is for you to do what God tells you to do and begin paying tithe at once."

For the first time since we had begun talking, Miss Clancy smiled. Cheerfully she said, "I'll do it. I'll take your advice, pastor, for I think it's good counsel. It won't be the first time I've trusted God. If He fails me, well, it will be the first time He has."

"He won't fail you, Miss Clancy," I assured her.

"Sure, and well I know that. Good-bye for now, pastor, and thank you."

The following week Miss Clancy handed me 60 cents. No money I ever received was harder to take. But, I thought, I'll let the Lord manage this and not interfere. So, the 60 cents went to the church treasurer and a receipt was given to Miss Clancy.

Week after week this determined lady brought her 60 cents tithe. Once or twice I leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Are you getting along all right, Miss Clancy?"

"Praise God, I am," she replied happily.

The third time I asked her how she was getting along, she answered, "Pastor, something strange has taken place. The neighbors never before did the things they do now."

"What things?"

"Why, they bring me little presents—a loaf of bread, a pound of butter, some flour, some cereal, a quart of milk. Fruit, and even cake. I really think I'm getting along better on my 90 cents a week than I ever did on that $1.50."

"Do you think someone has put the neighbors up to this?"

"Sure, and I do."

"Who?"

"Need you ask, pastor? The good Lord hasn't forgotten me, and He hasn't forgotten His promise. If you hadn't advised me as you did, you would have robbed me of God's blessing."

Three or four months later Miss Clancy knocked on the door of my study. When I asked her in, she entered with a swagger and a playful smile on her face. She stood silently for a moment in front of my desk and then said, "Pastor, you're looking at a woman with means, a woman of wealth. Sure, and you must show me the proper respect."

"Sit down, Miss Clancy, and tell me what has happened."

"Sure, and it's as I say. I have more money than I know what to do with."

All this time she was strutting around with a humorous gleam in her eye.

"Miss Clancy," I said. "Will you be good enough to sit down and tell me what you have come to tell me?"

"Just as you say, pastor. You'll remember that I told you of that blessed nephew-by-marriage of mine in Connecticut? Well, this week he wrote me a letter. In it he said, 'I've felt for some time, auntie, that you must have a hard time getting by on $6 a week, and I've wanted to send more. Now I can do it, for I've just had a raise in wages. You will find $10 in this letter, and there will be $10 every week from now on.'"

"Dear Miss Clancy," I said, "this makes me happy. I'm very glad."

"I knew you would be, pastor. But do you realize what this means? Do you see what God has done?"

"Tell me."

"Why, now my tithe will be $1.00 a week, no less. My rent remains $4.50. Pastor, are you good at mathematics?"

"Well—"

"How much more is $4.50 than 90 cents?"

"Five times as much," I answered.

"You see, there it is! Five times more for me than I've had before. Five times, mind you! Sure, and I don't know what to do with all my money. I've been thinking I can do more for missions than I've been able to do before. Oh, pastor, the Book says the windows of heaven will open and a blessing will come too great to receive. That's what the good Lord has done for me. Aye, the windows of heaven are open upon me. You told me He would never fail me. Nor has He. It's a happy woman I am this day."

That's the story, and it happened just the way I've told it. I have added nothing to it nor taken anything away. Miss Clancy's glowing face will be in my mind whenever I think of God's tithing promise.

And you? Do you care to put God to the test? "Prove me now," He invites. "See if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that you won't have room enough to receive."*

That blessing waits only for your obedience in this matter of tithing. God was faithful to His promise with Miss Clancy. He'll be faithful with you as well.

Carlyle B. Haynes served the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the eastern United States and in South America during the first half of the twentieth century.

*See Malachi 3:8–12

Reprinted from Signs of the Times, June 2001. Used with permission.