Going to Church
Part Five - Vows
Ecclesiastes 5v4-7
13th March 2026
This is the last in our series on Ecclesiastes 5v1-7. We've been instructed to Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. We've been advised to Go near to listen and not to offer the sacrifice of fools . We been reminded that God is in heaven and you are on earth and the right response to that is to let your words be few. Now, we're given a specific application of these principles:
Ecclesiastes 5v4-7
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. And do not protest to the
temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at
what you say and destroy the work of your hands?
For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity, but
God is the one you must fear.
We don't use the word "vow" very much these days except, perhaps, in a marriage crremony. We tend to say "promise" instead . A vow is a solemn promise. Some say it's a promise confirmed by an oath. However, Jesus said:
Matthew 5v33-37
"... you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not
break your oath, but fulfil to the Lord the vows you have made.'
But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it
is God’s throne;
or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is
the city of the Great King.
And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white
or black.
Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' 'No'; anything beyond
this comes from the evil one."
We must keep our promises, especially our promises to God. There was a time when an Englishman would say - and mean - "My word is my bond". There was a time when we believed that "A promise made is a bill unpaid". God never breaks a promise, and nor should we.
Numbers 30v2
When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate
himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do
everything he said.
Some Biblical examples of vows are:
Genesis 30v2
... Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch
over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and
clothes to wear
so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will
be my God
and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house,
and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth."
Numbers 21v2
... Israel made this vow to the Lord: "If you will deliver these
people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities."
A vow can be the sacrifice of fools (verse 1). An example of an unwise vow is found in:
Judges 11v30-35
... Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: "If you give the Ammonites into
my hands,
whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in
triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it
as a burnt offering."
Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them
into his hands.
He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as
far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to
meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of timbrels! She was an
only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter.
When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh no, my daughter!
You have brought me down and I am devastated. I have made a vow to the
Lord that I cannot break."
Jepthah sacrificed his daughter in fulfilment of his vow. Opinion is divided over whether he should have broken his vow rather than kill his daughter, but had he not made such a foolish vow he would never have had to face such an awful dilemma.
Our passage says, "When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfil it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfil your vow." It is foolish to make a promise to God and then delay its fulfilment. Your promise was made to the King of Kings, the Ruler of the Universe, who holds power over life and death. Do not show Him such disrespect. If you don't mean to fulfil your promise, don't make it. "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. It is a sin to fail to fulfil a promise to God:
Deuteronomy 23v21
If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it,
for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will
be guilty of sin.
God will discipline us if we break a promise to God. Solomon warns us, "do not protest to the temple messenger, 'My vow was a mistake.' Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?" Breaking a promise to God is a serious matter, is it not? Making a vow, a promise to God, lightheartedly, carelessly, shows a lack of reverence for our Maker and our Redeemer. It is foolish. "For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity, but God is the one you must fear.".
As I've already said in this series, many churches sing songs like "All to Jesus I surrender". If that's not true for you, and it probably isn't, don't sing it. If you sing it, God may ask you for your savings, your house, your car, your career, your health, your liberty. If you're genuinely willing to yield all these things up to God to fulfil His purposes, that's great. If you're not, don't pretend to God that you are. He see your heart.
We should also be careful about making a deal with God, praying, "O Lord, if you will do this then I will do that". If we try to strike a bargain with God, He will expect us to keep our end of that bargain. Anyway, we can't make deals with God. He doesn't need anything from us. We have nothing to bargain with. We can only rely on His mercy. And we can. God is good.