HONOUR YOUR VOWS

"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).

According to the above Bible verse, a typical attitude of a fool is that he makes vows and delays or neglects to pay. Making a vow is like entering into a covenant. It is binding on you to fulfill your vow. A vow is an expression of who you are, what you believe in, and what you want. Thus, when you back out of a vow, you are denying who you are, what you believe in, and what you want. But a fool does not understand that to defer a vow is to deny himself.

It is this same attitude of folly that manifests in people who make promises and never fulfil them. While some never really intended honouring their promises, others would claim that it was circumstances beyond their control that made them to break their word. In both cases, however, it is lack of sufficient commitment to being upright that is responsible for this absence of integrity. It is foolishness not to keep your own words.

The third manifestation of this order of foolishness is when you borrow and fail to pay back. This is not only foolishness but wickedness (Psalms 37:21). Indeed, we can conclude that all these forms of foolishness are in actual fact, wickedness. It is wickedness to make a vow to God and defer to pay. Since God has no pleasure in people who do so, it is wickedness to deliberately do things to displease the Lord. It is also wickedness to promise your fellow man and then let him down. So I charge you, don't be a fool, lest you suffer the lot of the wicked.

Hannah should inspire us. She was called barren and could not conceive for many years. Then she prayed and vowed that if God should give her a son, she would give him back to the Lord. God honoured her faith, gave her a son and she did not delay to fulfill her vow. The Bible says that the moment she weaned Samuel, she brought him to the house of God. And he was her only child. Her husband attempted to apply some delay tactics but Hannah was not ready to be a fool.

A fool does not keep his words and it doesn't bother him. So he does it again and again till it becomes his second nature. But God has warned that we desist from such folly because it attracts His displeasure. Don't be a fool; strive to honour your words.