“When you vow a vow or make a pledge to God, do not put off paying it; for God has no pleasure in fools (those who witlessly mock Him). Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.” Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 ->me: I did a lot of reading across the Thompson Chain reference on ‘Vows’ (Examples of, Sacred, etc.) A couple of things are very clear. Vows are voluntary. Vows are a sign of dedication to the Lord and acknowledgement that He is Lord of your life. Making vows is serious business and when you make a vow to the Lord, you must pay it and pay it in short order; as this passage warns. God takes pleasure in those who make and return on their vows to Him. A vow can be a promise to do something. It can be a dedication of my children or fruits of my labor. It can be a statement of allegiance to do something in my life for God (think of the call and answer to be a pastor or missionary). I must be careful -> I must know and believe the vow I am making is something I can complete. There is a danger in using vows as bribery to the Lord for Him to do something. However, I have seen examples in the bible where someone has said -> Lord if you do this I will do that…and it happens (Numbers 21:2). The one time I did this was when Marianne was in the hospital and not is good shape with the Hanta Virus. I made some vows then that I am just now following through on.
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