Moses knew that his days were numbered. So he listened intently to God's instructions for His people. God talked to him (again) about the 7 feasts and all of the required sacrifices. But He followed up with some laws regarding the making of vows. God wants His children to DO what they SAY they will do. He wants them to follow through with what they promise. He wants our lives to display INTEGRITY. (Numbers 28-30)
We will bear the responsibility of promises made to God and others. How often we idly say what we desire to do, yet rarely follow through on what we say. What have you promised God that you will do? What have you promised your spouse that you will change? Have you ever promised your children something that you reneged on? What ministry have you committed yourself to do that you ended up dumping on someone else for your own selfish reasons? (Do your toes hurt yet?)
Several years ago, my husband and I committed to a pledge an amount of money in our church's building campaign. It was to be paid over 3 years. Trusting God to fulfill what He told us to do, we prayerfully were able to offer nine-tenths of it before we were called into ministry in another state. We left our home and ministry, and moved, thinking all the while that we were "off the hook" for the final tenth. We were a full year into our new ministry before the Lord brought conviction through the Word. I opened the Bible that day and read this, "When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it, for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay." (Ecclesiastes 5: 4-5).
You can imagine my racing heart! We had assumed one of two things: That our vow had been to our CHURCH and therefore able to be cancelled at our discretion, or that God really didn't care if we didn't keep our vow to Him. Either way, we had assumed WRONGLY!
When we say that we are going to do something, it is our integrity that sees to it that it gets done. When we don't follow through on what we say, we are showing God, others, and even the world sometimes, that we have no integrity. In the cases where we do not "do as we say," it would have been far better for us to have kept our mouths shut!
Our vow to supply for the need of our church's building had been minimized the moment we moved. But conviction in our hearts caused us to rethink what we had promised, what we had vowed to God in faith. We began to ask the Lord to bring to us the final tenth so that we could return it to Him, completing our vow. He was utterly faithful; and we were faithful as well. Never had such a burning conviction felt so good when it was removed from our shoulders. Doing the right thing by following through on what we had vowed allowed us to step out of our foolishness and into wisdom!
Do you make promises that you never intend to keep? Have you made some promises that you now realize you MUST keep? Do the right thing. Stop making false promises, and start keeping the ones you have made. Your integrity is on the line.
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