WATCH YOUR MOUTH 

NUMBERS 30:1-9 

          We are coming to the close of another year and this is the time in which many of us look back over our lives and the past year and vow to make changes.   Most will call these vows New Years Resolutions.  Some will call them pledges and others simply call them promises.  Whatever you call these statements made as the year ends and a new year begins, I want you to understand that they are a serious matter.  Here in Numbers 30 we are given the law concerning vows.  Though we are no longer under the law I want you to glean from this passage the seriousness of making vows and promises.  Notice that the law was stated for men, married women and young ladies still living with their fathers, and for widows and divorced women.  There was no law given for single women not living with their fathers because this would not be a normal circumstance in Israel.  Note that in all cases once the vow was made, and confirmed for those living under male headship, it had to be paid.

          The word vow express the idea of a verbal promise made generally to God, but not exclusively to Him.  In other words, avow can be made to another individual.  In the Old Testament vows were of 3 basic forms: bargains, acts of selfless devotion and those aimed at the purpose of abstaining from something.  Bargains were normally made with God to insure His presence, protection, provision, etc.  Promises made under these circumstances were always conditional.

JUDGES 11:1-5 (TELL VERSUS 6-28) 29-31, (TELL 32-33) 34-40

          Often vows or promises are made without considering all that is included in the vow and all that must occur in order for the vow to be fulfilled. Maybe Jephthah was expecting to see an animal when he first returned home, or maybe he expected to be greeted first by a servant.  Certainly he did not consider that he might see his only child.  However, it does not matter what he expected to see.  All that matters is that he made a vow to God and now he had to keep it. Jephthah knew the law on making vows in Numbers.  The vow had to be paid.

DEUTERONOMY 23:21-23

          Not keeping a vow made to God is a sin.  Jephthah did not want to sin against God.  What goes out of the mouth must be performed.  Note here that it is a sin to not perform a vow, but not a sin to refrain from making a vow.  In other words vows are voluntarily made.  He was not forced to make the vow and since they are made voluntarily they must be carried out.  If God or the other person upholds their part of the bargain then you are obligated to uphold your part.

          The second type of vow in the Old Testament was those showing acts of selfless devotion.  This type of vow can best be demonstrated by David’s vow not to rest until the ark was returned to Jerusalem.

PSALMS 132:2-5

          At this time the Ark of the Covenant which represented the presence of God among Israel was not in its proper place so David vowed to bring it to Jerusalem and make a tent for it to dwell in.  David said he would not come to his own house and lay in his own bed or rest until he had made a place for God to dwell.  The bringing up of the ark is recorded in 2 Samuel 6.  It is at this time that David danced until his outer garments came off.  His selfless dedication to the serving God and bringing the presence of God back into the camp of Israel brought him such joy that he danced, jumped and shouted right out of his clothes. 

This second type of vow is one that we rarely have to worry about someone not following through on because most of us don’t bother to make vows of selfless dedication to God.  Loving God so much that we completely dedicated to Him, denying self in every way and yielding to the will of God in all things is a place that we all are trying to get to.  With our mouths we say that we love God with all of our hearts.  But with our actions we show that God only owns part of our heart and the other part is owned and ruled by us.

          The third type of vow seen in the Old Testament is those made for the purpose of abstaining from something.  Vows of abstinence are sort of like bargain vows but rather than saying to God “if you do this I will do that” we say “I will stop doing this if you do that”.  This is the kind of vow that we often make when we are in trouble, when we need for God to get us out of a mess.  We promise anything in hopes of deliverance.  We rarely stop to consider what we are promising and what it will take to keep the promise.  We simply want out of the mess.  But even the promise that is made in painful and stressful times God expects us to honor.

PSALMS 66:13-15

          Obviously David had made promises to God when he was in a tight spot.  Having been delivered from his troubles David remembers that he must now pay his vows. You see it does not matter that we made the promise because we were in trouble and needed God’s help.  Proverb 6:2 says “We art snared with the words of our mouth.” Once it goes out of our mouths, God expects us to do what we say.

ECCLESIASTES 5:4-6

          When we tell God we are going to do something we need to make haste and get it done.  If you are not certain you will do something then don’t say that you will.  It is better not to make a vow than to make one and then break it.  Remember how disappointing it is to you for someone to tell you they are going to do something and then they never do it.  If they promise too many times without following through we lose confidence in them and doubt anything that they say.  We see them as untrustworthy, someone who does not keep their word and someone who is unreliable.  We would not want God to see us like that.  But when we make promises that we don’t keep that is exactly the character that we are displaying, whether the promise is made to man or to God.  Sometimes we take our words to lightly.  We think that we can just take back what we say.  But words are eternal.  Once they are spoken you can not take them back, you can not change them and they will bring about some effect on the hearer.  Verse six says don’t let you mouth cause your flesh to sin, and don’t think you can just say my promise was a mistake.  What we promise, God expects us to do.  Keep this in mind if you are making New Years resolutions this year.  I know that it is a tradition to do so, but if you make resolutions then be prepared to keep them.

          Finally, there are benefits associated with keeping vows or promises that we make to God.

PSALMS 50:14-15

          When we have done our part, God promises to deliver us when we call on Him during our troubled times.  Keeping our vows shows that we are reliable, faithful, trustworthy and dependable.  These are godlike characteristics and show that we are taking on the character of our father.  When we act like our father he promises to deliver us when we stumble into trouble.  Why? He will deliver us so that He might be glorified in us.

PSALMS 56:12-13

          This is not God making a vow to David, but rather David making a vow of selfless devotion to God.  He is vowing to be God’s servant, to give his whole life to him and to render praises to Him.  The benefits in living out this selfless devotion to God are not only deliverance from eternal death, but also power to live and walk upright before God in this wicked and perverse world in which we live.

          As you enter this New Year consider the promises you make.  It is a sin to vow or promise and then not to pay the vow or fulfill the promise.  It is no sin not to make a vow.  In fact it is better not to stick to tradition than to follow a tradition that you cannot maintain.

          When ever a child was about to say something that would get them in trouble, the older people would say to the child “watch you mouth”.  Of course they did not mean look at your mouth.  What they meant was step light and be careful what you say.  Don’t let your mouth get your flesh in trouble.  I say to you as we approach a new year “watch your mouth”.  God expects His children to do as they say.