March 21 When Vows Become Shibboleths

Judges 11:35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."

The word vow brings so much to mind; first I am reminded of all the fox-hole vows soldiers have made - promising God that they would clean up their act and go to church or something similar if He would just deliver them safely through the attack. Then I think of all the believers who have made similar promises or vows to God: if you will just heal my child, or bring my spouse home safely, or help us out of this scary place, then I will surely serve you better or give you more or.....

How sad it is that it would take a challenge to make us pay attention to God, to realize our need for Him, to even notice Him!! But unfortunately that is too often true. We take God for granted, access to His Word for granted, and His love for granted, only calling on Him when we have dug ourselves into a hole.

Smith suggests that Jephthah may have recognized the difference between passive faith and active faithfulness. I wonder if there can be such a thing as a passive faith because faith by its nature calls us to an action, a different action than the one who has no faith.

An active faith trusts, and anyone who thinks that trusting is a piece of cake has never had to trust. Trust carries in its definition believing and relying on something when it might not make sense given the circumstances. That takes a lot of action - choosing to take God at His Word, moving forward despite the situation, exercising hope, believing God and persevering through the challenge confident that God is right there with you.

When we have made vows or promises to God that we did not keep, we must recognize that we have lied to Him. We have dishonored the gift of life He granted to us. I am grateful that He is quick to accept our apology when it is real and that we can once again enjoy fellowship with Him. However, we must also recognize that we have grieved Him. He loves us, and just as we don't like being lied to by those we love, God doesn't like it either. It grieves us because it first grieved Him.

Well, I kind of wandered around to day, but it's been on my mind.