Lest the Book of Leviticus end with a series of stark “curses,” the Holy Spirit has apparently opted to talk about certain rules of “redemption.”
But mostly pertaining to vows one might make unto the Lord. (Tomorrow’s Lesson will explain this in further detail.)
But today I’d like to discuss with you the general Old Testament principle of vows. A spiritual discipline not highly emphasized in the New Testament at all.
The first thing I would like to mention is that all Bible vows (best I can find) are completely voluntary. God never requires a person to make such a serious commitment … not in any heavy-handed manner.
Do not misunderstand me. The Lordship of Christ demands our total surrender to the Saviour, but not in the sense of a dozen (an arbitrary number) vows being made in the process.
The second thing I would emphasize is that that IF a person makes a vow to God (serious business) … he or she sure had better keep that thing! Never vow casually, without counting the cost.
Solomon address this: “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.” Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
Wow!
Does God take these vows lightly? Ecclesiastes again: “Suffer not thy mouth (regarding making vows) to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?”
Ignore that vow you’ve made, discontinue keeping it … and you risk angering Almighty God! You are inviting His (by disobedience of an obligation you were not required to undertake in the first place) “destroying the work of your hands!”
Now I am wondering why the New Testament has not a single Paragraph instructing us about vows. I think this: because our very word is to be iron-clad! To say it … means we’re gong to do it!
James 5:12 explains … “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”
Wow!
More tomorrow, the Lord willing.
“Be careful, little tongue, what you say!”
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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