Joel M Bradshaw

21“If you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. 22But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. 23You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth.–Deuteronomy 23

I have two wonderful kids. And to enjoy a quiet house I have to wake up extra early to do these devotional blog posts. But today is Saturday and my family graciously let me sleep in. That’s why this is posting later.

My children sometimes get into arguments with each other as kids do. One took the other’s toy or refuses to share. But the yelling gets loudest when I hear these words. “BUT YOU PROMISED!”

Promises mean a lot to my kids. If I promise one that they can watch a movie if they clean their room, then it means something to keep my promise. Now imagine a person going before God and making a voluntary vow offering or choosing to invoke God’s name in a public dispute. God was not happy when people used his name and then wiggle out of their vows. He called that sin and said that vow breakers were guilty. He also said they couldn’t delay.

Vows communicate two things. They communicate about the one making it. If they are a person who keeps their word or not. They also communicate about the one who’s name is involved.

With my kids, my promises are based upon my own name. When I make a promise, it’s held sure because my children view me as trustworthy and the authority. The moment I start not fulfilling my promises, my name and trustworthiness take a nosedive. You would expect the kids to not take my promises at face value anymore or be skeptical. And rightly so.

Now imagine you are dragging God’s name into your nonsense. You are making his precious name empty, worthless, or vain. There’s that pesky one of the 10 Commandments that at its heart speaks against this very idea.

Read the passage again. Vows are usually voluntary things. A person was trying to make a statement or make a name for himself by doing this. “I vow by God…” is a powerful start to a sentence for a reason. In Jesus’ day, this nonsense had gotten worse. Here was his response in Matthew 5…

33“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Have a reputation as a promise keeper not a promise breaker. And make sure your promises have a biblical foundation or are glorifying to God. Jesus saw that the heart of our passage was people manipulating truth or escaping from commitments. Truth and commitments matter for a reason. They form the basis of relationships. It’s impossible to show love for God if you sully his name and reputation. It’s also impossible to love your neighbor if you don’t keep your promises to him. What God calls sin never honors God.–JMB