Let Your Words Be Few
Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Fear God, Keep Your Vows
1 Walk prudently when you go to the
house of God; and draw near to hear rather
than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they
do evil
2 Do not be rash with your mouth,
And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God.
For God is in heaven, and you on earth;
Therefore let your words be few.
3 For a dream comes through much activity,
And a fool’s voice is known by his many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it;
For He has no pleasure in fools.
Pay what you have vowed—
5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin,
nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should
God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is
also vanity. But fear God.
We need to be very careful about making promises and vows to God.
We cannot afford to be careless when we go and worship God in His
sanctuary. It is better to listen than to offer foolish sacrifices.
Many people, who are not prudent, do not even know that they are
doing something wrong.
When we come to God in prayers, we do not just shoot off and utter
whatever that comes to our minds and speak them out before we even
think. We must not be too quick to speak, and then regret later what
we say. We need to think before we speak, and to be careful about
what we promise to God.
God is sovereign. He is in full control and not us. Thus, the lesser
we speak, the better it is. When we dream and aspire to have
something or be someone, it would mean lots of work and activities,
often leading to overwork, restlessness and sleepless nights. And
also ungodly and bad dreams come from too many worries and
discontentments.
Becoming too busy often gives us nightmares, and becoming
blabbermouths often makes us fools. Too many dreams will lead to
unnecessary things and concerns, and many foolish words produce
empty prayers.
When we talk too much, we often become fools, acting like them. Too
many words come from foolish people.
If we make a promise to God, we must be faithful in keeping it. We
cannot procrastinate and delay what we promise or vow to God. God is
not pleased with foolish people.
We need to give God what we have promised Him. It is better not to
promise anything than to promise something and later not do it. We
must not let our own words cause us to sin.
Very often, we make vows and promises to God as we try to please
Him so that He will answer our prayer requests. But later after our
requests are answered, we will break those promises, not keeping
those vows we have made.
We cannot take back our vows and promises by reverting them and
saying that we did not mean what we promised! When we do so, God
will become angry with our empty words. He will destroy everything
we have worked for.
Many empty and broken promises are like foolish dreams. Though they
mean nothing, they are not harmless! They may eventually destroy us.
Thus we should honor God in what we say and do.
When we do not walk prudently before God, we will offer the
sacrifice of fools, not knowing that we have done evil in His sight.
In 1 Kings 18:25-28, at Mount Carmel, the priests and prophets of
Baal prayed in vain repetitions, dancing around the altar that they had
built. As there was no answers to their prayers, they prayed even
louder, cutting themselves with swords and spears until their blood
flowed. And even then, there was no answer from heaven. But Elijah
prayed a simple prayer with faith, and God heard and answered his
prayer!
Matthew 6:7
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as
the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for
their many words.
And when we pray, we must not behave like those people who don’t
know God. They continue saying and doing things that mean nothing.
They think that God will hear them because of the many things they
say and do.
James 5:16-18
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another,
that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a
righteous man avails much.
17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed
earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on
the land for three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain,
and the earth produced its fruit.
When a righteous man prays, great things happen. Elijah was a man
just like us. He prayed that it would not rain. And it did not rain
on the land for three and a half years! Then Elijah prayed again.
And the rain came down from the sky, and the land grew crops again.
Elijah prayed that there would be no rain. God answered his prayer.
Three and a half years later, he prayed for rain, and God
answered his prayer. Rain or no rain, Elijah knew what to pray. And
God answered both of his prayers! He
also waited patiently for the Lord. Elijah had no dreams or visions
that were nightmarish and beyond his faith in God! He was faithful
to the Lord!
Matthew 5:33-37
Jesus Forbids Oaths
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old,
‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the
Lord.’
34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither
by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for
it is the city of the great King.
36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one
hair white or black.
37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’
For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
In the Old Testament, it said, “When you make a promise,
don’t break your promise. Keep the promises that you make to the
Lord.”
But Jesus told us to never make an oath. Don’t make an oath using
the name of heaven, because heaven is God’s throne. Don’t make an
oath using the name of the earth, because the earth belongs to God.
Don’t make an oath using the name of Jerusalem, because that is the
city of the great King.
And don’t even say that our own heads are proofs that we will keep
our oaths. If we cannot make one hair on our heads become white or
black. Say only “yes” if we mean “yes,” and say only “no” if we mean
“no.” Whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
Thus we must not be quick to make vows to God. But if we do
make vows before God, we must be serious in fulfilling the vows
made.
God knows what is inside our hearts even before we come and pray to
Him. Thus, many words and actions are always not necessary.
He desires truth and righteousness, mercy and justice. When our life
pleases Him, a few words will be enough to do all the petitions,
supplications and intercessions.
For God is in heaven, and we on earth, therefore let our words be
few.
Written on:
16 September 2024