Vows

Reading Assignment: Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

Did you understand what you read?

What is the sacrifice of fools?
Does God expect us to keep our promises when they were rashly made?
What is the advantage of using few words?
Must we keep promises that were made by mistake or under deception?
In Matthew 5:37, Jesus simplified the idea of keeping our word. What is it?

Lesson

When going to worship God, Solomon warns that we should walk prudently. In Hebrew, the phrase is literally to "keep your foot." The foot was a symbol of prideful strutting, like a peacock. In other words, we are to humble ourselves when approaching God (James 4:10). We need to come to God to listen to what He has to say and not to show off our piousness. Our worship of God should not be like King Saul (I Sam 15:22). Like Saul, the fool is so wrapped up in his self-righteousness that he doesn't see the error of his way.

Before we talk, we need to consider our words carefully, especially promises that we make to God. Consider the vow of Jephthah in Judges 11:30-39. His vow was rash as well as foolish, yet breaking the vow was never considered. Next time you are tempted to go back on your word, consider if it would cost you as much as Jephthah's vow cost him. Solomon wisely advises us to keep our words few (Proverbs 17:27-28). The more we say, the more likely we will say something wrong (Proverbs 6:2; 10:19).

We need to learn to keep our promises. If we promise to make a payment, then we must make every effort to pay on time (Psalms 15:4; I Corinthians 6:6-8). You are much better off not making a promise at all than to make a promise that you cannot keep. Consider the Israelites promise with the Gibeons in Joshua 9:3-27. The promise was made under deception, but this was not an allowable excuse to break their promise. Mistakes are no excuse.

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver" (Proverbs 25:11). Our word is valuable. Jesus taught us that simply saying yes or no is sufficient to commit us (Matthew 5:37; James 5:12). We should never lie (Col. 3:9, Eph. 4:25). God always keeps his word (II Peter 3:9) - we should keep ours as well.