Daily Devotional for Monday, November 10

Honour Vows Made to God

“When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed,” Ecclesiastes 5:4.

Have you ever bargained with God? Have you ever been in dire straits and attempted to make a deal with God that, if He would only save you, you would do such and such a thing in return? I have caught myself doing that on more than one occasion. Or, how many times do we try to reinforce our word with another person by saying, “I swear to God!” I have been there and done that as well. The truth is that making rash promises and vows and then backing out on them later is far too common. We do it with each other, and we do it with God.

God is not some cosmic candy dispenser where we can put in a prayer coin and get a wish granted. God also does not negotiate with His children. He does not need anything we have to offer because He is self-existent. To think that we have something to offer that would give us power with God is the very height of presumption; to believe that we can somehow leverage the Holy Spirit by the power of our faith is also presumptuous.

Having said all of the above, we still make vows to God; God may choose to honor our promise to Him. He may come through on His end of the deal, so to speak. Now the question is: how many times have you made a vow to God, and He did what you asked, then you backed out on your vow? Do you know that this is displeasing to God? How often do we think we can presume upon God’s grace and promises before He stops making promises to us?

JUST A THOUGHT

God never breaks a promise; if our goal is to be Christ-like, we must become promise keepers ourselves.

Wally Fry