Ecclesiastes 5:5. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
And having opened our bleary eyes to another bright and sunshiny Thursday morning, I believe that it’s only right to acknowledge the Lord’s part in such an amazing occasion, by offering Him some thanks and praise for His new mercies and compassions provided specifically for today.
Yes friends, being alive and kicking today is most certainly an amazing and memorable occasion, for please remember the many who did not have the opportunity to awaken from restful slumber today, but have instead gone home to be with the Lord. And yes, in some instances that might have been better than waking up to this evil and ungodly world, but seeing as we are still here, it means that the Lord God Almighty has more work for us to do down here on His behalf.
Now, finally, after all that rambling, (smile) let’s pray. ‘O Lord, thank You for allowing us to see another glorious day on planet earth and we praise Your holy name for all that You’re doing for us. Today though Lord, as our world spirals out of control, we specifically ask that You sustain us with Your Holy Spirit. Please give us an inquiring and discerning heart; the courage to do Your will and to persevere in whatever You lead us to. And please give us a spirit to know and to LOVE You, along with the gift of joy and wonder in all Your works. We promise to LOVE and obey You as best we can. Amen.’
And please believe me, my faithful brethren, that last part of our prayer was the most important: our promise to LOVE and obey God to the best of our ability. For none of the other things will happen until we keep that promise. The Lord did not ask us to make that promise, but we took it upon ourselves to do so, therefore it’s of the utmost importance that we fulfill it. Why is it so important you ask? Well, let’s allow Cousin Sol to tell us why, as the Preacher from the book of Ecclesiastes, where he offers this discourse on honouring vows made to God.
‘Keep thy foot (walk prudently) when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready (draw near) to hear, (rather) than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon the earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through a multitude of business (effort or activity); and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.’ (Eccl. 5:1-3)
Oh my people, Cousin Sol must still be alive and writing about our current society, for using his logic, our society indeed overflows with fools, because the multitude of words that flow forth from us is simply mind-boggling. I don’t believe there’s ever been another generation that talks as much as ours. And the sad part is that in this era of rampant social media, most of what we’re talking is utter foolishness, idiocy, many outright lies, overwhelming deceit and treachery and misinformation like never seen before.
Unfortunately though, too many of us get away with the lies and deceit, hiding behind the tight walls of anonymity that the social media apparatus provides. But let’s remember though as Cousin Sol says, that God is in His high heaven, and we are on the evil earth and who knows what can or will happen to us when we engage in folly. But here’s the clincher of the whole story. (smile). He says: ‘When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer (delay) 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.’ (Eccl. 5:4-5)
And that’s certainly the gospel truth my people! But it’s something we do all the time, make empty promises to God when we pray and ask if He will do this or that, we will do such and so. And when He does it, we completely forget our promise, until the next time we need something else from Him. But that’s pure foolishness my brethren. How long or often do we think we’ll get away with that insincere behaviour eh? Not long at all, for God knows what’s in our hearts better than we do. And He knows the insincere promises before they even are uttered out of our deceitful mouths.
No wonder so many of us see our prayers go unanswered and wonder why. It’s because of the deceitfulness and dishonesty that the Lord sees in our hearts when we come so penitently, piously and innocently before Him. We can fool ourselves, but we can never fool God. And furthermore my fellow saints, as children of God, we should also only make vows to our fellow man if we intend to keep them. That’s another unpleasant aspect of our society, for it’s teeming with deceit and dishonesty.
There’s never been as many fraudulent schemes as they currently are. You can’t answer the phone without someone trying to defraud you. The same goes for social media and internet applications. There’s no one you can safely trust these days. Even close family are selling out each other for a few lousy dollars. That’s why we need the wisdom and discernment of the Holy Spirit that we prayed for earlier on. Otherwise, the many crooks, both in high and low positions will eat us up without us even knowing what happened. Such is the great evil that exists in our society today.
And the best way to avoid most of that evil is by taking this advice of Cousin Sol’s to heart. ‘Suffer not (do not let) thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel (messenger), that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice (excuse), and destroy the work of thine hands?’ (Eccl. 5:6) Yes, don’t go making silly excuses when you break your vows, admit your mistakes and take your punishment. ‘For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities (futility abounds).’ (Eccl. 5:7)
And that’s oh so true my friends. The more we dream and speak, the more mistakes and trouble we are liable to experience. So please, let’s be careful about how much we say, and about what we say. For remember, God in heaven, sees and knows all, but we down here on earth, don’t have a clue about what’s really going on. And for those of us who are sincerely trying to practice godliness, let’s go home declaring (steups!!!) our Thursday Blessings, that have been so generously bestowed on us by our heavenly Father, so that we can successfully do His earthly work.
Altogether now: ‘I declare that I am blessed with God’s supernatural wisdom and receive clear direction for my life! I declare today that I am blessed with creativity, courage, talent and abundance! I am blessed with a strong will, self-control and self-discipline! I am blessed with a great family, good friends, good health, faith, favour and fulfillment! I am blessed with success, supernatural strength, promotion and divine protection!
I am blessed with a compassionate heart and a positive outlook on life! I declare that any curse or negative word that’s ever been spoken over me is broken right now in the name of Jesus! I declare that everything I put my hands to, will prosper and succeed! I declare it today and every day! Amen!’
Now, it’s our bounden duty to go out and use those blessings to do the Lord’s work, just as generously as they were shared with us. Much LOVE!
… words are very powerful…they can make or break us…so please…let’s think carefully before we talk…
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