Making Vows

Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared ~ Psalm 76:11
When we think of vows, most of us automatically think about wedding vows. We think of a man and a woman vowing, or promising, their entire lives to one another. It's a beautiful thing. But as I've been reading the bible, specifically the Psalms, over and over I see the psalmist talking about the vows he's made to the Lord and how he seeks with all that is in him to keep his vows. Seeing a follower of God making promises to Him is a foreign concept to me. I don't see it or hear of it happening much today. I wonder why...

A promise is binding. When I tell my kids that we "might" do something, I feel absolutely no pressure to follow through with it. When I make a promise, it's a different story. I have to make whatever sacrifices I need to make and do whatever I need to do in order to follow through and keep my promise. Making a promise, or a vow, binds us to do what we've said we will do.
As I considered these things, I began to consider the losing battle that many of us have with sin. Many of us have certain areas of our lives where we continue to fall, and we pray and pray yet continue to fail in those areas. Usually we're praying something about hoping we don't do it anymore, yet keeping in mind that we are sinners so understanding in our hearts and minds that we probably will. What we're actually doing at that point is telling God that we "might" not sin in that area, thus feeling no pressure to actually follow through with it.

So here is my question; how much more serious would we be about following through with killing that sin and not continuing in it if we had made a vow to God concerning our purity in that area? I think many of us don't make vows to God because we don't want that type of accountability. We're not serious enough about leaving that sin alone. In some ways, we WANT to keep "struggling" with that sin. Maybe we don't make vows to God because we're worried that God will wipe us out if we break them, but is that the character of the God we serve? Not at all! Jesus Christ was crucified to pay for our sins and remove the wrath of God from those that believe. God is patient and kind; He's loving and merciful! But that doesn't clear us from seeking, by His grace, to keep our promises and pay our vows to God. Psalm 76:11 says make your vows to the Lord your God AND PERFORM THEM. If I love my kids, and will do whatever I need to do to keep my promises to them, how much more do I love God and will seek to keep my promises to Him!

Consider making some very serious and purposeful vows to the Lord. Count the cost. Recognize the work, and sacrifice, and self denial that must go into keeping that vow! Understand that the keeping of that vow is only possible by God's grace! Our dependence upon God and the strength of the Holy Spirit is the only way we can do anything good. And finally, make sure that your motivation is not necessarily that YOU would have victory, but that GOD would be honored and glorified through your loving and willful obedience! God's love for us and our love for Him must always be the motivation for our obedience!
~ Issac