Vows arrest God’s attention

There are times, in our walk with God, when we come across impossible situations that will not yield to normal prayer and simple confession of faith.  Such kinds of situations may require us to make vows unto God as David, Hannah, Jonah, Jacob, and many others did to secure their deliverance from certain trouble.
A biblical vow is not a seed sown for a harvest. Neither is it an offering given to God. It is a solemn promise made unto God by a believer who is in danger or facing an impossible situation. The believer facing serious challenges promises God that he or she will do or give something towards God’s work only if God delivers him or her from the present trouble.
A vow is initiated by a believer and God is expected to respond positively to the vow before the maker of the vow fulfils the promise. Let us take Jacob’s account in Genesis 28 as a case study.
Jacob suddenly found himself between a rock and a hard place. Danger loomed behind him and before him as he was fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau and was heading towards the unknown. Simple prayer could not help him because his evil schemes had marred his relationship with God. An offering was not an option because he seemed to have run away with no material substance. But he knew he had to get God’s attention in order to be delivered from the sour revenge of Esau and fear of the unknown.
Finding hope in God’s visitation through a vision of angels descending and ascending on a ladder, he ventured to capture the attention of the Almighty God through a vow.
Genesis 28:20 records, “And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace: then shall the Lord be my God…and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee.”
This is a typical example of how to make a vow. Jacob lacked a lot of things at this point in time so he desperately wanted God’s presence to preserve him from all harm, to provide for him and prosper him as well as to bring him back to his father’s house safe and sound. As payment for God’s faithfulness in meeting his needs Jacob promised to choose Jehovah as his personal God among many gods, to make Him a sanctuary in his life and to pay Him tithes of all.
Did God listen to him? Yes He did. God did all that Jacob requested and even prospered him more than he imagined. Jacob became very wealthy in the house of Laban through divine wisdom and God increased his family greatly and brought him back safely to his father’s house. To show that He now accepted and loved Jacob fully God changed the name Jacob (trickster) to Israel (prince of God). God faithfully did His part. Was Jacob faithful to keep his promise? Yes. Jehovah became the God of Jacob, His fear, His Sovereign Lord. He paid tithes to God.
Now it is your turn if you are in serious trouble. But you need to understand this, “When you make a vow unto God, defer not pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools: pay that which you have vowed” (Ecclesiastes 5:4). It is better not to make a vow unto God if you are not sincere because it is a sin to do so.
The Lord Jesus taught us not to swear in the name of God or by any part of creation especially if we are not prepared to regard our word as our bond.
The solemnity of the vow is spelt out in the command to pay the vow. This means you owe God what you promise Him in a vow and you must pay it on time.
You shall not break your word but keep the promise.
– Feedback: call 0912889766 or email mairos78@yahoo.co.uk