Skip to main content

Broken Promises

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it.  He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.  It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.  (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5)

This verse pierces me deep down to the soul.  It forces me to think about all those times I brought empty promises before the Lord:  “Dear Lord, if you could please help me through X, I’ll do Y in return.”  Time and time again, the Lord helps me through X, but I never even attempt to fulfill Y.  Why on earth do I do that??  Do I not take my promises to the Lord seriously?  Do I consider Him so loving and forgiving that I find it acceptable to break my vows to Him? 

The truth is, I would do almost anything to avoid breaking a vow to a family member or friend, but when it comes to the Lord I am considerably lax.  This is something I must make every effort to change – not for the Lord’s sake but for my own.  The Lord doesn’t need anything from me, but I need all He has to give:  His fellowship, His wisdom, His strength, His mercy, His forgiveness…

Perhaps someday I’ll make a vow to never make an empty promise to the Lord again.  Hopefully I’m never that foolish, unless I mean it with every fabric of my being.   

Popular posts from this blog

Farewell Mike

  “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)   Last September, Dee and I made an extremely difficult decision to switch churches. The toughest part was leaving behind our “small group” made up of people that have become like family.  For decades, biweekly between the months of September and May, we’d get together to worship and pray with and for one another.  The prayers offered up there I firmly believe changed the trajectory of many lives for the better.     Back in 2015, an older gentleman, Mike, joined our group and we hit it off right from the start.  Mike was a prayer warrior – if I knew Mike was praying for us, I just had a deeper peace that whatever the situation was, it was going to work out for the best.  Mike also had the best memory I’ve ever been around – he even came to know my schedule...
Read more

Verse App Archive

Two Decades  - 07/09/2026 Farewell Mike  - 05/26/2026 The Christmas Shoebox  - 12/05/2025 The 25th Wedding Anniversary  - 07/01/2025 Face Down  - 03/30/2025 Farewell Neighbor  - 12/12/2024 Willing Scars  - 05/16/2024 The Christmas Miracle  - 12/15/2023 The Fixer  - 05/24/2023 Jesus Revolution  - 05/10/2023 9 17  - 10/06/2022 Farewell Nancy  - 06/26/2022 The Christmas Slippers  - 12/25/2021 Grain of Sand  - 09/24/2021 50  - 05/24/2021 The Resurrection of Gavin Stone  - 02/01/2021 Still Thankful  - 11/25/2020 Too Short?  - 09/25/2020 The Chosen  - 07/01/2020 Peace  - 03/19/2020 All in One  - 11/13/2019 Legacy  - 10/23/2019 A New Path  - 04/15/2019 Love Your Spouse  - 11/08/2018 A Good Word  - 09/11/2018 Still Your Birthday  - 06/08/2018 Six Hours - 03/29/2018 Small House, Big Home  - 12/15/2017 Break for the Better?  - 10/19/2017 Do ...
Read more

The Christmas Shoebox

  “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.     Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:7-8)   Two Saturdays ago, I had one of those non-stop days.  I got up early and had hours of intense office work to do.  After that, I took a break from that to help Dee get the Christmas decorations up.  After that, I switched to get some urgent outdoor items done before the Minnesota frozen tundra took over for the winter.  I capped the day by switching back to the intense office work for a couple hours.   At about 9 pm I was ready to collapse in a heap when Dee said, “we have to get the Christmas shoeboxes put together so we can take them to church tomorrow”.  After thinking about it for a minute, I reluctantly agreed.   Thankfully, Dee had taken the lead on buying everything for 4 boxes (...
Read more