YOU AND YOUR VOW

 “That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth…It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy, And afterwards to reconsider his vows…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?” (Deut 23:23; Prov 20:25; Eccl 5:5,6). 

It is a common thing among the people of God to make vows to God for certain needs in prayer or a
pledge to give certain things to God for His work.  We may find such examples both in the Old Testament and also in the New Testament.  It is important for the one who made the vow or pledge to understand the implications of both.  Whether you make a vow in prayer for a special request or a pledge for certain projects in God’s works, it is the same thing.  The God whom you pray to is the same God whose work you pledge to give certain things either in cash or in kind.  You are bound to pay your vow immediately you receive the answer to your prayer in the first instance; on the other hand, if it is for God’s work, you are to pay what you pledged to pay in cash or in kind.  But most of the time some of God’s people do not mind to pay their pledge, they only remember the place and the day the pledge was made and forget it later not minding the redemption of it.  That kind of attitude means that such people are ignorant of making vows to God and His works.  God is a faithful God who keeps His words and promises, so should the child of God do.  When you make a vow to God or a pledge for His work you are bound to fulfil your vow or else, you are not taking God seriously.  Failure to redeem or fulfil your pledge makes you a defaulter which may have adverse effects on your spiritual life according to the word of the passages chosen for this message. 

Some Christians choose not to vow or make pledge under the guise of the Ecclesiastics’ passage of this message and therefore refrain from this sacred obligation.  That is not the right attitude in doing that, you are actually indulging yourself in being not able to keep your words and promises either to God or man.  One of the implications of failing to redeem a vow is a hindrance to one’s prayer.  But I would advise that you discipline yourself in the attitude of making vows or pledges and fulfilling them.  That helps you to keep your promises and appointments as a child of God who imbibes the culture of integrity. 

Let this message challenge you to be a promise-keeper, a redeemer of vows and pledges, and my God will bless you. Amen.