Ecclesiastes 5:4 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Ecclesiastes 5:4

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Another warning the Holy Spirit gives, is that God is not a God to be trifled with. When you come to him, you must mean what you say, not offering him light commitments and easily broken promises. Our hearts must align with our words and we must not give any assurance that we do not fully intend to meet. Integrity means that the heart and the mouth are not disconnected. How many use words to impress and deceitfully promise more than they plan to deliver, or are even able to deliver. Human beings engage with each other on this basis all the time and think nothing of it, but when we come to God, we come to someone who cannot be mocked in this way. He is the God who searches the heart and knows every word before it is on our tongues. We must shed all false views of ourselves, and strip away the layers of pretence that are part of our daily behaviour. But why does Solomon speak of vows at all? Why should we pay vows to God as part of our first approaching him? The word vow is highly appropriate for in a sense, the whole of the Christian life is a vow. A vow is a solemn commitment, a promise taken on oath, the most binding and serious expression of future intention that we can make. The word sums up what is key to our approach to God. We cannot come to God to receive from him and give nothing in return. Certainly, we cannot pay for salvation with good works, but nor can we come without being willing for him to change us completely. There must be a death to the old life of sin, just as there is a resurrection to the new life of obedience. This is a promise to follow him for the rest of our lives and we dare not make such a promise without weighing up in our hearts what that commitment will cost us.

Application

Delay is an issue here, for in this matter we can easily deceive ourselves. We can promise ourselves that the delay is only temporary and yet our own weakness can subsequently prevent us carrying out our original intention. We should be suspicious of any desire within us to delay, for though it may seem wholesome, our weak wills can easily lose their resolve. God has no pleasure in fools, and so we pray, ‘Lord help me to search my own heart to see if I am genuine.’

The application is still to unbelievers. It is amazing, the number of people who have made a vow to God. We can find many examples among the famous and the not so famous. When they or someone in their family is in great need they come to God and instinctively understand they must bind themselves to him in some way. You have to take God seriously, or you will receive nothing from him. You are dealing with the God who is there. A religion of good intentions is no use at all. Promises made lightly to God when in trouble and not honoured afterwards are worth nothing. No, true religion is knowing him and walking with him for life. How many people are knee-deep in myths and futile ideas about religion.

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Ecclesiastes 5:4 Commentary and Bible Study