What happens when we do not keep the vows we make before God in His holy house?
Posted : 24 Nov, 2016 09:37 PM
"Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity, And a fool�s voice is known by his many words. 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 you fear God." - Exodus 5:1-7
�God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" - Numbers 23:19
"The Lord reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved!" - Psalm 99:1
"Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth." - Psalm 96:9
"My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments." - Psalm 119:120
"But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles� feet. But Peter said, �Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.� Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, �Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?� She said, �Yes, for so much.� Then Peter said to her, �How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.� Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things." Acts 5:1-11
"Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God�s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God�s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience� sake." - Romans 13:3-5
Do we fear God as we should? He says He Himself will put His hand against the work of our hands, if we come into His house, and make a vow to Him, and we do not honor it. But, but but but, this is New Testament, not given us the spirit of fear. Acts 5 is in the New Testament, and God caused fear to come upon His church because they were not taking Him, nor His commandments seriously. Are we taking our vows seriously yet?
Is God just going to wink and nod, and not put His hand against the work of our hands, seeing we've failed to keep our word to Him? Have we wondered why we have repeated financial setbacks? Are our efforts to be successful constantly thwarted?
Did we say we would be in church every time the church doors open, and show up for Christmas and Easter? Did we commit to helping the poor, and spend it on the football game? Did we give Him our solemn vow to be faithful unto death, and leave before death, not realizing the oath was made to Almighty God, and not just to another person, and that the obligation still remains? Did we promise to go on a mission trip and never follow through? Did we vow to read through the whole bible this year, and abandon the effort after two weeks? What was that last thing we promised God we would do in church?
No, we won't get a pass if we made a vow which wasn't made in the church building, but there is a sacred space that we need to treat with greater reverence when we gather in God's house. We need to purge our hearts and our minds and our souls and our wills of this irreverent independent spirit which is in opposition to unity in the body of Christ, and we need to keep our sacred vows made before Almighty God in His holy house of worship. He will set His hand against us for our failure to fulfill our vows to Him, and we should not despise the discipline of the Lord. It is good for us, and for those around us, that we humbly accept His correction and instruction. This is where His blessing is found.
