Keeping promises

Ecclesiastes 5:4 (NLT)

When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools.  Keep all promises you make to Him.  It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it. 

There was an old movie called “The End” where Burt Reynolds played a character who learned that he had only 6 months to live.  So he decided to commit suicide by swimming as far into the ocean as possible and then drown.  However, once he gets out there, he changes his mind.  Desperately he starts swimming toward land, but realizes that he’ll never make it.  Then he thinks of God.  He starts making promises with each painstaking stroke.  He first promises to obey the Ten Commandments, then realizes that he doesn’t know them.  So he promises to learn them all.  Then he promises to give to the Lord 80% of all he has.  But, as he feels a little stronger, he modifies his promise to 50% (“I’m talking gross.”, he says).  Then as he starts to see the shoreline, he says to the Lord, “If you get me to the shore alive, I’ll give you 10%.  When he makes it to shore he says something like, “Lord, let’s just forget what I said before, I think that I can make it on my own”.

A funny movie scene, but might this sound familiar?  We are reminded daily of people who took out loans or borrowed on credit or used other people’s money with the intention of paying it back but never could.  If you are not absolutely sure about following through on a promise, then don’t make it and don’t do it. 



Do you make deals with God, yet no matter how well-intentioned, you end up not fulfilling your end of the bargain?  Well, now you know what this verse says---don’t make a promise that you cannot keep.   You are viewed as a fool by God if you make a promise to Him, then delay to follow through.  What might be interesting here is that the Scripture says “delay” not “fail”.  Perhaps God knows that eventually what you promise Him will be fulfilled (e.g. your desire to learn His Word or start serving Him diligently), but He also knows that it might take several false starts before you actually fulfill your promise. 


The wisdom from this verse is clear……..don’t make a promise if you know that you cannot keep it.  Don’t fool yourself or God.  Have you recently made a promise to Him?  If so, then be certain to fulfill it.  If you know that you cannot fulfill your promise, ask forgiveness and be done with it.  If you wish to make a promise, ask for His help to dedicate yourself to fulfilling it, but only if you are absolutely certain that you have the resources to do so.