VOWS

By Brother Ishmael from Shabab Friends Church

Sunday 21^st June 2009

(All quotations from New King James Version)

Genesis 28:19-22 (NKJV) “And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, "so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God. "And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”

A vow is a promise or an oath you give to God or someone. When a vow is given to God, it is binding. When we own up our promises to God, He really blesses us abundantly and expands our territories. People often vow knowingly and unknowingly thus in one way or another, we have all vowed to God. Sometimes we vow when hard situations are on our sides, or when hard times arise.

Judges 11:29-40 “Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, and passed through Mizpah of Gilead; and from Mizpah of Gilead he advanced toward the people of Ammon. And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, and said, "If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, "then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith––twenty cities––and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, "Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it." So she said to him, "My father, if you have given your word to the LORD, do to me according to what has gone out of your mouth, because the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the people of Ammon." Then she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: let me alone for two months, that I may go and wander on the mountains and bewail my virginity, my friends and I." So he said, "Go." And he sent her away for two months; and she went with her friends, and bewailed her virginity on the mountains. And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She knew no man. And it became a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went four days each year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.”

In this extract, we see Jephthah vowing before God, that if the Lord will make sure he goes and comes back from the war, he will give God anything that first comes from his house. In the end however low he was it being that he had to sacrifice the daughter, he had to act according to the word that he had given to the Lord. Also we as Christians we need to act according to the word that comes from your mouth. We sometimes make vows and when we find that things that are dear to us are to be given to the Lord we negate our vows.

Deuteronomy 23:21-22 “When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.”

When we do not own up our vows The Lord will have no pleasure in us. Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 “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.” When you do not fulfill your vow the Lord calls you a fool. Imagine with our highest intelligence we are fools before God then how will it be when the Lord knows you are a fool but he calls you a fool! It means you are worse than the fool you know!

When we do not fulfill our vows the Lord will curse us. Malachi 1:14 "But cursed be the deceiver Who has in his flock a male, And takes a vow, But sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished––For I am a great King," Says the LORD of hosts, "And My name is to be feared among the nations.” We should own up or vows so that the Lord will be pleased with us and not curse us.