Pray

Read: Ecc 5:1-7

Meditation

We’re going to talk a little about vows. Now it must be said, this topic is not really something that comes up at all for modern evangelical or even reformed Christians. It is pretty much off our radar. That is not because we do not make vows, but more because we do not think about them.

In Solomon’s day, vows were a specific aspect of temple worship. There are multiple passages in God’s law dealing with vows, and there are multiple examples of vows in scripture, including in the New Testament.

But where do we start to get our heads around this curious topic? A vow in Solomon’s day, generally speaking, was a specific commitment that someone made to God. We see Jacob vowing to serve God in Genesis 28:20. We see Hannah asking God for a child, and vowing to offer the child as a servant to God if he granted her request in 1 Samuel 1:11. Leviticus 7:16 speaks about the vow offerings in the temple. So vows were commitments and offerings, generally made publicly in the context of temple worship. This is why Solomon refers to the messenger in verse six. This was a person from the temple who had come to collect on the paying of the vow.

Solomon’s warning here is that if you commit something to God, you had better be prepared to pay it. Because if you do not, it is a sin. In fact, this is so serious that Solomon says, “why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the works of your hands?” There are serious consequences for not paying vows. God is angry with it. He may even discipline you by destroying the works of your hands.

Now, maybe you hear that and think: “Phew! Glad we don’t have vows today!” Well, don’t speak too soon!

The temple offerings connected with vows have all fallen away, that is true. That which foreshadowed Christ has now been revealed in him. But this does not mean that the principle of vows or vow-making has simply evaporated.

Let me show you what I mean.

Forget about vows for a second.

Let us completely drop the word for a minute.

Forget about the offerings and the ceremony.

What is really at stake here in what Solomon is saying? The real issue here is speaking the truth. Now that is true in a general sense. In Matthew 12:36 Jesus said that on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. That is sobering, is it not? Every word we have ever spoken is on record, and it will be put to the test and shown up for what it is. Our words matter, and what we say matters. If you lie to someone, that is a serious sin. Proverbs 6:16–17 says that God hates a lying tongue. He hates it. It makes him burn with anger.

Now. Here is where vows fit in. It is one thing to speak the truth generally, it is another thing to keep our commitments and speak the truth to each other. But when it comes to making a vow, what we are really talking about is our commitment to God.

If you make a commitment to God, if you tell him you will do something, then speaking the truth becomes so weighty that the Bible has a whole category for this kind of commitment. That category is called a vow. The temple ceremonies surrounding vows have passed away, but if you commit to God himself that you will do something, then you had better believe that God will take that seriously, and he will expect you to do what you have committed to do.

“When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.”

God takes what we say to him with absolute seriousness. And this is not just Old Testament teaching. Whether you are in the Old Testament or the New, God hates lying. Look at Ananias and Sapphira in the Book of Acts. They publicly committed to give their wealth to the church. They made a vow. But then they held some back. They lied to God, and God struck them down.

Now how does this apply to us?

The first thing is this: do not be rash with your mouth. Solomon has already told us that in verse two. Deuteronomy 23:22 says that if you do not make a vow, you are not guilty of sin. Vows are optional. Ananias and Sapphira did not have to offer their possessions. “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” (Acts 5:4). So if you are considering making a vow, do not rush into it.

The second thing is this: keep the vows you make. You might think you do not make any vows, but the truth is that you do. You have made a commitment to God in believing in Jesus. You have committed yourself to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. That is the real heart of the vow. We vow to give our whole lives as an offering to God. That is the picture behind the laws of the vow.

But there are other commitments as well.

Every time we confess our sins publicly in church, Sunday by Sunday, we are telling God that we are sorry, and we are committing to repentance. How often do we reflect on the things we have repented of?

Sometimes we also make commitments to God in the songs that we sing. In Psalm 119, in the Book of Worship that our church uses, we sing: “Upon your precepts and your ways my heart will meditate with awe; your word shall be my chief delight, and I will not forget your law.” Have we lived up to that? We sometimes sing a song called: “Brother, let me be your servant.” Verse 3 of that songs says, “I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night time of your fear. I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.” That is quite a commitment, and God takes note when we sing it. Have we done it? What songs do you sing in your church?

What about our membership vows? The Book of Forms in our church, which we use when we make membership vows, says: “I promise to do all I can, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to strengthen my love and commitment to Christ by sharing faithfully in the life of the church and its means of grace, honouring and submitting to its supervision and discipline, and I join with the people of God in doing the work of the Lord wherever I am.” And every time someone else professes their faith, we as a congregation in our church reply by saying: “Thanks be to God! We rejoice in your profession and promise you our love, encouragement and prayers.” Have we given our love, encouragement, and prayers to each other? If we kept that vow, church splits and broken relationships would be unheard of. Difficulties, yes. Church discipline, perhaps. But church splits, no.

Solomon has laid out before us here a very difficult path in the labyrinth in this series of meditations from Ecc 5:1-7. It is narrow and steep. He has called us to guard our steps as we come to worship, to be prepared, and to have our hearts ready to listen to the voice of God speaking to us. He has called us to guard our tongues and not to speak rashly or thoughtlessly. He has called us to be committed to the public worship of God together in the presence of the saints. He has called us to take seriously the commitments that we make to God in worship.

Solomon is not playing around here. This is serious. Public worship is not a time to relax and take it easy, or to have a laugh and a joke. It is a time to fear God.

Now I don’t know about you, but as I was writing this series of meditations I experienced one particular sensation again and again. The sensation I am talking about is the sensation of my own failure. The feeling of shame as I saw my own failure.

I have not kept my membership vows. I have often not even considered the songs that I sing, let alone recalled what I committed to do in them. His word has not been my chief delight, as I have sung in Book of Worship 119-a. And every single time I have sinned I have forgotten his law, which I promised to remember.

The weight of our failure is great, and indeed far greater than we can even begin to fathom. Perhaps you have felt similar sensations in reading these meditations. Because the truth is that this path Solomon is showing us is a path that we cannot walk by ourselves.

As we draw to a close in this section, let me suggest some additional application for you to take away.

First, re-read these meditations and consider your failure honestly and earnestly before God. Work your way through the material and honestly confess to God your failures. Do not hold anything back. Admit that you do not prepare for worship as you ought. Admit that you do not come prepared to listen to the word. Admit that you do not put into practice the things you have heard. Admit to God that you do not keep the commitments you make. You have not kept your membership vows. You have not even remembered the commitments you have made in song. Lay it all out before him and confess that you have failed.

And having done that, know this. The infinite blood of Christ has covered everything. All your failures in worship. All your shame. All our apathy. All our lack-lustre singing. All our inattention to the preaching of the word. All our unnecessary absences from worship. All our lack of preparation. All our failure to keep our vows. He has covered everything.

Because here is the real heart of the vows in Scripture. It is not primarily about the vows that we fail to keep. It is about the vow that Christ has promised to us. The vow to cover our sins. The vow to forgive. The vow to uphold. And the vow to bring us safely to the end.

While we all fail to keep God’s law, he will not. He will keep every single word he speaks to us. And he will graciously cover our every failure and lead us in the way everlasting.

Here is another application. Every time you hear Christ make a promise in the pages of scripture, every time God commits himself to do something, cling to his promises. He will keep them. Unlike us, his word is good. Not one word of it will fall away. Rejoice in God.

Now having confessed your sins and repented of your failures, here is the next thing you must do. Earnestly commit to do what you have not done.

Earnestly commit to prepare for worship. Pray and prepare your heart. Earnestly commit to attending worship faithfully if you have not already. Earnestly commit to come and listen diligently, to gather and apply everything you hear preached each Sunday. Earnestly commit to singing sincerely. Earnestly commit to praying and giving your amen in the public worship of God. Earnestly commit to keeping your membership vows. Perhaps even memorise them to help you do that.

And as you commit to doing these things that God delights in, confess freely to God that it is not within you to keep your commitments. Sincerely ask him in prayer to enable you to keep them. Put things in place in your life that will help you to do that, and pray continually as you seek to do them. As you spend time, for example, before the service on Sunday preparing for worship, and your heart feels cold, cry out to God to help you.

And when you fail, as you surely will, do not despair. Repent again. Confess your sins. Cry out to God. Take his hand, which he will surely extend to lift you up. Then stand with renewed resolution in Christ and keep walking the path that lies before you. May God grant each of us to worship him in spirit and in truth. SDG.

Prayer of Confession & Consecration

O Lord our God, we confess that we have come before you carelessly, with wandering hearts, unguarded lips, and promises we have not kept. You have heard every word we have spoken, yet we have often forgotten the vows we made in repentance, in song, and in the fellowship of your church. Have mercy on us through the blood of christ, who has covered all our failures and whose faithful promises never fail. Renew our hearts by your Spirit, that we may fear you in worship, speak truth before you, and offer our whole lives to you with sincerity and joy. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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