2005-07-22
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
You'll remember that last week, I wrote about the importance of the vow Abraham's servant took when he went to find a wife for Isaac among Abraham's people. God knew that no Canaanite woman would have the heart that Rebecca would have to raise her children believing and loving the One God. We get further understanding of the solemnity of vows from DT 23: 21-23, "When you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not put off doing what you promised; the Lord will hold you to your vow, and it is a sin not to keep it." The whole idea of this is to cause a person to think twice before making a vow with God, and once the person decides to do this, he is to keep the vow. It must be understood that there is nothing preventing a person from making a vow before God, and in fact, there are times when this is really necessary. Once David was confronted by the prophet Nathan about his behavior, I believe David made a decision to vow he will be faithfully obedient to God. I feel the preparation for his vow came in PS 42: 1-2, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" At this point, David understands that he has been given a spiritual "wake-up" call and that his need for God is greater than his need to assuage his sexual appetites. Then, came his prayer for cleansing in PS 51:10-12, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me."
PS 71: 16-17 is David's promise to witness to God's power and greatness. "I will come and proclaim Your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim Your righteousness, Yours alone. Since my youth, O God, You have taught me, and to this day I declare Your marvelous deeds." This is soon followed by his vow to praise God in PS 86: 12-13, "I will praise You, O Lord, my God, with all my heart; I will glorify Your name forever. For great is Your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths of the grave." We can just imagine David running the events of his past through his mind- when God stood by him in his confrontation with Goliath or when the often demented Saul was alternately chasing him, shooting at him, and speaking about making peace with him.
There are some conclusions one can't help but draw about vows. The question may be asked: what is the purpose of vows, and why are people allowed to make them? 1) Vows are designed to remove suspense from a situation. God vows to love and protect His people in places like IS 43: 1b-3 and 49: 14-16 (which I hope you will review). In return, a committed believer vows to hold up His end of the covenant, as in the example of David above. From the point of the exchange of a vow, there should be no more suspense about who is expected to do what. It's a good reason for us to take the making of marriage vows more seriously than is done in most of today's society. That is another type of vow to which should have God involvement as a full Partner. Christ's message of salvation is another vow into which one should enter with solemn commitment. We vow to repent and believe in the Son, and in return, He vows to protect us, bless us, and lead us to eternal life with the Father. Christ has already made good on His part of the covenant by giving His life on the cross for us. I can witness to you first-hand that He is a loving Presence in the lives of everyone who truly believes in Him.
2) Vows are also designed to discourage wrongful behavior. The marriage vow certainly fits into this category with it's promise to "love, honor, and be faithful to" one's spouse. That doesn't mean there won't be breaking of that vow by a person who hasn't taken it seriously, but it does mean that being unfaithful to one's spouse is unacceptable to God. Other vows are designed to discourage injustice and the lack of assurance of things like one's safety or provision. I've always considered it both a professional and moral vow with God not to beach the confidences shared with me by others. Certainly as a prayer chain Coordinator or as a counselor, I would soon be unable to function if I broke that vow. Doctors take an oath to do whatever they can to use their skill to heal people who are ill, even if they have personal issues with that person. The only time it is permissible to break these kinds of vows would be if one's own life or the lives of others are endangered by keeping it. For example, if a therapist finds out that his patient is planning to murder someone and has the means, motive, and opportunity to do so, then I would think it would be incumbent on him to report this to the police. To my way of thinking, that doesn't release the therapist from keeping this vow (to do all he can to heal) with other patients.
3) A vow makes an agreement binding. It is a sign of serious intent to keep the agreement. Some vows are with God; others are made between two or more people and God. It is a pledge of integrity. The latter is a fundamental building block of living the life of holiness to which God has called each believer in 1 PET 1 :16 [also LV 11: 44 and 19:2], "Be holy because I am holy." Certainly there was integrity in the vow of friendship between David and Saul's son, Jonathan [1 SAM 18: 1-4].
PRAYER: O Lord, all too often we don't take our relationship with You as seriously as we should. That doesn't mean that we can't enjoy laughter and have fun in our lives. It just means that we should understand that we cannot continue to live committing wrongful acts or making unrighteous decisions. Our thoughts, words, and deeds must conform to those of people with hearts have been transformed by the power of Your Spirit to faithfully obedient hearts, which acknowledge and believe in Your goodness. You are an awesome God, Who wants nothing more than to bring His people back to His side for a blissful and eternal fellowship with You [JN 6: 39-40]. Your reasons for this are not faulty or just for Your own entertainment. You have created each of us with both an immediate and a cosmic purpose. We learn this in EPH 1: 4-5, "Even before the world was made, God had already chosen us to be His through our union with Christ, so that we would be holy and without fault before Him. Because of His love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ He would make us His sons-this was His pleasure and His purpose." We know from the example of Abraham's life that Your purpose for each of us is both immediate and cosmic. We have seen over history how faithful to those who believe You are. David wrote about this in PS 9: 10, "All those who know Your mercy, Lord, will count on You for help. For You have never yet forsaken those who trust in You." Paul said it straight out in RO 8: 1, 28, "There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus…We know that in all things God works for good with those who love Him, those whom he has called according to His purpose." While we don't ever deserve it, You enrich and bless our lives with Your most excellent grace. We praise and thank You with all our hearts. In Christ, we pray. Amen.
Next week, the Lord leads me to begin a new segment of messages, Called to a Higher Law. In it we will examine what it means to live a new life in Christ. We need to have a better understanding of what it means when Christ is described, as He is in RO 10: 4, as the "Fulfillment of the Law." There is nothing contrived about the language Paul uses here. Remember, before the beginning of his amazing traveling apostleship on earth, Paul was trained for three years in the Arabian desert at the hands of the Master [GA 1: 11-12, 18, and GA 2: 7] and he was forced to defend his calling many times [AC 22: 14-15, AC 26: 18, RO 1: 1, 2 COR 11: 5-6, 2 COR 12: 11b]. The answer to the question: why go to all this trouble, as Paul did? is found in an understanding of God's overall plan of salvation. Our omniscient God loves each of us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross and to be resurrected "as the First among many brothers" [RO 8: 29], so that we may have the hope of being freed from the shackles of the original sin and sin we have ourselves committed, to come to everlasting joy and fellowship with Him. God's intention was solely good-the saving of many lives through people coming to faith in His Son. We have been told in GN 50: 20 that the evil we endure is necessary for God to move us through the process of sanctification-preparation for our glorification. "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Perhaps that will give us some illumination of the truth of God's intense and faithful love for each of us. We are truly a blessed people.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn