My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Psalm 56:12-13
12 I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
Our final two verses in this psalm provides David’s summary of Gods rescue from the danger he is in. The first phrase, speaking of his vows to God is an obligation to God on David’s part. It is a requirement to perform his vows that he has spoke to the Lord.
Vows are a very stigmatized, old fashioned concept in our modern world, and for that we are the worse off. To be one who keeps vows is a rarity in our culture, even to the point that vow breakers are heralded as brave and daring, heralded by other oath-breakers as being hero’s! Does anyone out there hear Romans 1:32 ringing in their ears?
Romans 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
To be cheered on by oath-breakers should alarm us!
Although the vow David mentions is surely related to His commitment to provide a thank offering to the Creator, the application for the modern Christian is easy to provide. What vows are you keeping? The most common vow that Christians struggle with is the marriage vow.
A quick story time to depict this condition.
When we first moved to Texas, we landed in a small town in the panhandle, east of Amarillo. It seemed everyone went to church in that town, and two of my boys were in high school at the time. One afternoon, one of my boys came home and began to question if we as a couple would remain married. This came out of left field for my wife and we later found out that our son was the only student in his class that had not suffered through a divorce within the family unit.
This is incredible, and shocked us, since it seemed to be an acceptable way of life in that little town to break vows. Now I realize that it takes two to tango, and the culture feeds on division of relationships, but every family was broken! So sad! Surely we are a broken people in such a terrible need of the healing of our Savior!
When I consider vows, David has written on the topic back in Psalm 15, where he describes a vow in verse 4
Psalm 15:4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
It is easy to swear to something that is pleasurable. That is the definition of hedonism. I will only do that which pleases me. I am committed to that which I enjoy. What type of person does this create? One that cannot be trusted, that can not maintain a relationship, either human or divine, and one that ultimately destroys his own soul.
My friends. If things are stressed between you and your spouse, start to fix offences in the relationship, ask for forgiveness for wrongdoings, (perceived or actual) and communicate your heart to your partner. Open your heart and mind to them, be willing to suffer accusations and reproaches that need to be voiced.
Romans 15:3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
Keep your vows, even when it hurts and the struggle is real. Find ways to communicate with those who need it most. Trust God and love those who you are committed to!
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.
Considering the Bible 