April 21 Daily Devotional

On Making and Keeping Vows

Peter G. Feenstra

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— Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. 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? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God. Ecclesiastes 5:4–7

Bible Reading

Deuteronomy 23:21–23

Devotional

Are you a promise-keeper? If you say you are going to do something, do you do it? We live in a society of shallow and superficial commitments. At election time politicians make promises they never intend to keep. Do couples who exchange their wedding vows seriously intend to keep their promises?

Do we realize that when we say, “I do,” we are committed to fulfil what we promise? The Preacher cautions us to watch what we say and to keep our commitments. Our vows and promises are meaningless if we have no intention of doing what we said we would do. We need to make and keep our vows. Doing so is not optional.

By making our vows we surrender ourselves to the Lord and commit our lives to His service. A vow is made voluntarily (Deut 23:23). No one stands behind you with a gun telling you to make your vows or suffer the consequences. Furthermore, we cannot back out of what we vow and promise, or claim we made a mistake (Ecclesiastes 5:6). We may not say at a later date, “I suppose I shouldn’t have said that. I didn’t realize my life would take a different direction.” We are to meet our commitments and fulfil what we have vowed. And if we are straying from what we vowed, today is another opportunity to make good on our promises.

Our vows should never be made out of custom or superstition or as a mere formality. Whatever we say should come from the heart. That’s why the Preacher calls us to fear God and stand in awe of Him (5:7). In other words, we are to look with breath-taking admiration at the character of God. His amazing grace, mercy and love in Jesus Christ enable us to fulfil our vows.

If at this point in your life you have not committed your life to the Lord’s service, pray that the Lord work in your heart a growing desire to be devoted to Him. As you go about your daily routines in this life under the sun, remember what you have promised and fulfil what you said you would do.

For further information about this resource, click here.