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. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 KJV
I believe these verses have something very important to say to people today. We live in a time when a person’s word doesn’t mean much. We make promises, and with little thought to the consequences, we fail to keep them. Quite often, people get hurt. They were counting on us to be true to our word. Think of all the unwed mothers or fatherless children today. These are promises not kept. Jesus labeled this as hypocrisy (Matthew 23:23). We also make similar promises to God, perhaps in a moment of emotion, or just to impress others. This is foolish and dangerous. God keeps us to our promises, He holds us accountable. It is far better not to make a promise than to make one and not keep it.
Lord, too often I talk before I think. Help me think before I make promises that are difficult for me to keep. Because You hold me accountable, my promises to You are especially important, but my promises to others also need to be kept. Broken promises in my relationship with others will reflect upon my relationship with You.
