Of Your Word - Ecclesiastes #19
Ecclesiastes 5:4-7
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it;
For He has no
pleasure in fools.
Pay what you have vowed—
5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say
before the messenger of God that it was an
error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your
hands? 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many
words there is also vanity. But fear God.
I’m not a
fan of commercials on Christian radio stations, but I’ve found the typical alternative
to be considerably worse. Listener-supported stations have pledge drives, full
of emotional, guilt-ridden appeals for you to give “as the Lord leads” so the freezing
orphans on the street can be warmed by listening to the good news through
positive and encouraging music (assuming they have a way to listen and power). Of
course, they need the money to stay on the air, but the way they appeal often
rubs me the wrong way.
This passage
is tied to yesterday’s, in the sense of using empty words, and today is about
empty promises to God. There are times in our Christian journey where we may
desire to do something to give glory to God. These generally are seen as vows,
and Leviticus 27 and Deuteronomy 23:21-23 give instructions about these
voluntary acts. Namely, if we say we will give something in honor to God, we
must do it! Acts 4 & 5 give an example, where individuals in the early church
sold their property and brought the proceeds to the apostles for distribution
to the poor. There was nothing compulsory about what they did; rather, Deuteronomy
23:22 states “if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you.”
Two
households disclosed they voluntarily gave everything to the fund as an act of
worship, the household of Barnabas and the household of Ananias. Ananias and
his wife, Sapphira, instead sold land and withheld a portion of the proceeds
for themselves. It was fine to withhold (and generous to give the portion they
gave), but there was no excuse for lying. This sin cost them their lives. Let
this incredibly severe punishment be a testimony to the seriousness of v. 5,
“Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.” Let’s be true to our word, our
“Yes” be “Yes” and our “No” be “No.” (Matthew 5:37)
In Christ Alone,
Dan
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