Here is Today's Message

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 CR NIV


Fulfill Your Vow to God

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

A dream comes when there are many cares, and many words mark the speech of a fool.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.

It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.

Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?

Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.

Moses and the Burning Bush

Exodus 3:1-6 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.

So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up."

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."

"Do not come any closer," God said, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

Then he said, ""I am the God of your father, and the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

1 Samuel 15:17-23 Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.

And he sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.'

Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?"

But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.

The soldier took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal."

But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."

Proverbs 20: 24-25 A person's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand their own way?

It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one's vows.

Proverbs 10:18-22 Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool.

Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of sense.

The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.