Saturday, August 12, 2006

Vows, Words, Meaning

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

2 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.

3 A dream comes when there are many cares,
and many words mark the speech of a fool.

4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. 5 It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. 6 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? 7 Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7.

2 comments:

Craig Fletcher said...

I hope to not be using words unnecessarily by posting something that won't help much here, but I just wanted to say thanks for posting some scripture. This particular passage is just what I needed to hear today for a situation I had at work.

I was not familiar (from memory anyway, I've surely read it before) with this particular passage but it has instantly become a favorite.

It's also good to post scripture on your blog because many unbelievers have not read much of, if any, scripture. Before I became a Christian I had no idea how valuable the lessons to be learned from the Bible were. In fact if I posted what I thought of the Bible back then I might offend some of our friends.

Since then, I like to take opportunities to quote scripture in secular settings (like work) without my conversation partners knowing that I am doing so. It gives them the false impression that I am come up with such sayings and ideas on my own.... if only they knew the source. If they ask, "where did you come up with that?" I always tell them, which can create a good witnessing opportunity (hint hint). Now if only I knew more scripture by heart......

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. said...

As the Great British peacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, "Be a walking Bible."