The Economy of God: Wealth Must Keep Moving Part 1: The Principle of Movement

LIVING IN THE SPIRIT :

One of the remarkable features of God's creation is that it operates through cycles. In school we were taught the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and even the movement of the wind we all feel — the result of differences in air pressure. These testify to one unchanging principle: creation is founded on balance, and life is sustained when resources keep moving.

Wind moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure until balance is restored. Water evaporates from the seas, forms clouds, falls as rain, waters the earth, fills the rivers, and returns again to the oceans. If these natural cycles ceased, the earth would become barren and life would eventually perish.

These are not merely scientific processes; they reveal the wisdom of the Creator. God designed creation so that abundance continually moves to where there is need. The same principle is found in God's economy.

God Is the Source of Wealth

Before Israel entered the Promised Land, Moses gave them a warning:

"But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant..." (Deuteronomy 8:18).

This settles the origin of true wealth. Wealth is not merely the product of intelligence, education, hard work, or opportunity. These are valuable, but covenant wealth ultimately requires God's power and blessing.

Many people labour all their lives and only manage to survive. Labour can provide sustenance, but lasting wealth is the result of God's blessing.

"The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." (Proverbs 10:22).

God gives wealth to establish His covenant, not merely to increase personal comfort.

Wealth Was Designed to Move

Israel entered a land flowing with milk and honey — fertile fields, flowing rivers, abundant harvests, and valuable minerals (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). Every tribe received an inheritance, and even the daughters of Zelophehad were granted one so that no family would be excluded (Numbers 27:1-11).

Yet God declared,

"For the poor shall never cease out of the land..." (Deuteronomy 15:11).

How could there still be poor people in a land overflowing with God's provision? And God had boosted this promise even further, describing it as:

"A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it..." (Deuteronomy 8:9).

This was not a land of mere sufficiency but of overflowing supply — a land where scarcity itself had no place. And yet, in the very same breath in which God promised a land where nothing would be lacking, He also acknowledged that the poor would never cease. Because throughout every generation there would be widows, orphans, strangers, sickness, crop failures, debt, and seasons of hardship.

God's answer was not simply to create more wealth. His answer was to create movement. Those enjoying seasons of abundance were commanded to open their hands to those passing through seasons of need.

"Thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother... Thou shalt surely give him..." (Deuteronomy 15:7-11).

God's economy is sustained by the movement of resources.

The Levites: A Living Example of God's Economy

Among the twelve tribes, one tribe was different. The tribe of Levi received no territorial inheritance. The Lord said,

"I am thy part and thine inheritance." (Numbers 18:20).

How then would they survive? God established the tithe. The remaining tribes brought a tenth of their increase to support the Levites (Numbers 18:21). This created a continual movement of resources from those working the land to those wholly devoted to serving God.

The Levites ministered to the people, while the people supplied the Levites. No one was independent. God established a covenant economy built upon mutual dependence and faithful stewardship.

Giving Creates Movement

Jesus revealed one of the greatest principles of God's kingdom:

"Give, and it shall be given unto you..." (Luke 6:38).

Giving is not merely generosity. It is participation in God's economy. Likewise, the principle of sowing and reaping is one of the clearest principles in Scripture.

"He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." (2 Corinthians 9:6).

No harvest comes without seed leaving the sower's hand. In the same way, resources must move before increase can multiply.

Giving to the Poor Is Giving to God

Perhaps one of the most astonishing statements in Scripture is found in Proverbs:

"He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." (Proverbs 19:17).

God so identifies Himself with the poor that He considers what is given to them as a loan made directly to Him. Every act of mercy becomes, as it were, a deposit entrusted to God's care. The Lord Himself promises to repay.

This is not manipulation or a financial formula. It is a revelation of God's covenant faithfulness. He remembers every act of compassion done in His name.

(Continued in Part 2 — Giving, Receiving, and Becoming a River of God's Blessing)

Hassan Thomas Nenger Living in the Spirit | Purpose Series Author, My Divine Identity as the Righteousness of God