Let my words be few

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfil it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfil your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfil it.  Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. Ecclesiastes 5: 2, 4 – 6

 When I first read these words from Ecclesiastes, I did not take into account the significance of making a hasty vow. I was more concerned about the problems of hasty words and the problems they can cause.  However I kept being drawn back to the matter of a vow and when I looked into this further, I realised that God views the keeping of vows as a very grave matter. There are many instances especially in the Old Testament of the importance of fulfilling your vow. 

Nowadays I think we rarely make vows in the same way but we can make hasty promises or deals with God and these are equally important matters. Words along the lines of ‘O God if only you will …… (fill in your own blank) then I will ….. (again fill in your own blank).’ Unfortunately what may happen is that when God keeps his side of the promise, we forget our part. We may be thankful that God has acted in the situation that was troubling us but we just move on.

God however has not forgotten and a vow or promise must be fulfilled; we must keep our part of the bargain.  Unfortunately it is very common nowadays that people do not keep their promises.  Even Christians cannot be relied upon to keep their word which is tragic.  We should be the most reliable and dependable people.

I hate it when people make promises to me that I know they cannot or will not keep. My philosophy is ‘if you don’t mean it, don’t say it.’ We are under no compunction to say or promise or vow anything, so we must be careful what we say or promise.

Broken promises and broken vows break trust and therefore damage relationships. I think that is why it is vital that we fulfil vows with God. Take Hannah, who made a vow with God that if he gave her a son, she would give the baby to serve the Lord. Suppose that when Samuel was born, Hannah reneged on her vow. She would always feel guilty and her relationship with God would be forever damaged. I know a pastor who said he would do something for me and didn’t. Next time I saw him, he could hardly look me in the face or greet me. Broken vows break relationships.

Making a vow with God is extremely important but so is a promise with someone else. I think that is why Jesus said, ‘Again, you have heard it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord’. But I tell you do not swear an oath at all … simply let your yes be yes and your no, no.  (Matthew 5: 33 – 37).

We must let our words be few when making vows and promises so we can keep them and maintain unity and trust with God and our family and friends.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Rooted in Jesus

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognised by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes or grapes from briars. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6: 43 – 45

I have unfortunately discovered this week how true these verses are; that when unresolved frustration and anger are stored up in the heart, the mouth will act as a safety valve and when the pressure is too much, all the frustration and anger pour out in a bitter flood. Thank goodness for the gracious forgiveness of both Jesus and those offended by my words.

There is no doubt our words reflect what is happening in our hearts. When our hearts are full of love, grace, patience and so on, our words will reflect this.  If we have unresolved anger, frustration, bitterness, unforgiveness, fear, feelings of unworthiness, insecurity, inadequacy and rejection both from current situations and those from our past, our words will reflect these. The words may come out quite calmly and in ordinary conversation not as an angry outburst but there will be nevertheless glimpses of the heart’s condition.

So how do we improve the heart’s condition?  There is no doubt Jesus does not want us carrying around all these negative emotions as they are damaging to both our lives and the lives of those around us. Jesus wants to heal us from past hurts, abusive situations, fear, pride, feelings of rejection, unworthiness and inadequacy. He also wants to show us how not to get into situations of unresolved anger and frustration so that our mouths do not become an unpleasant safety valve like a pressure cooker exploding!

The way is shown by the preceding verses about good trees and good fruit.  Trees bear fruit based on their character and what they are rooted in.  When we become Christians we change from bearing the bad fruit of the flesh to bearing the good fruit of the Spirit. The process for doing this and it is a process is by rooting ourselves into Jesus. Colossians 2: 7 says: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness.

We become rooted in Jesus as we live in the Word and with worship and thanksgiving we let him transform our lives. There is no situation that Jesus cannot redeem. There are Godly men and women today who grew up in the most abusive and horrendous circumstances but as they rooted themselves in the Word, God changed their lives, their attitudes and their thinking and their mouths too came into line reflecting the inner transformation. 

Whether our lives need a major overhaul or a minor adjustment, let us not give up but continue to cooperate in God’s transforming, redeeming work by rooting ourselves in the Word.  Good fruit will grow in our hearts and our mouths will overflow with the good fruit of the Spirit.