J. Douglas Dortch, Jr., Ph.D.
First Baptist Church, Tallahassee, FL
“A Vow To Be Kept ”
Scripture: Psalm 76:11
May 4 , 2008
The first part of this week I attended a “Spiritual Formation” retreat in Atlanta, where among other things I took a personality test. I don’t know of anybody who likes those tests (and I worry about those who do). It’s like standing in front of one of those “honest” mirrors that show you for who you are, warts and all, and boy, did my warts show with this most recent test.
Not that things are all bad with me; even the most messed-up of us humans have our redeeming points. But what my test showed me was what I knew all along – that at heart I’m a “people pleaser,” and people pleasers like me have a tendency to overcommit. “Can I attend that meeting? Yes, I’ll have to rearrange a few things, but I think I can make it.” “Can I serve on that committee? Why not? If you need me, I’m there. I may have to come late or leave early, but sure, I’ll be willing to serve.”
You get the picture. Many of you share my pain. Others of you may not, but surely even you calloused and calcified souls who are among us have found yourself in places where after you have made a commitment, you had serious regret. “What was I thinking?” “How did I get myself in that position?” “I told myself I would never again make that mistake.”
It’s easy to make a vow. It’s another thing entirely to have the strength of heart to keep it.
Maybe that’s what the Psalmist had discovered in this verse from Psalm 76. Psalm 76 is a psalm of adoration, where the Psalmist reflects upon the majesty of God and realizes that He who sustains and delivers is not to be presumed upon or to be taken lightly. “You alone are to be feared,” says the Psalmist. “Who can stand before You when You are angry (Psalm 76:7)?”
And for that reason, the Psalmist concludes the Psalm with this thought: “Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared” (Psalm 76:11).
As most of you know, what we have in the Psalms are ancient praise choruses and hymns. In fact, so much of our best worship music today, both traditional and contemporary, comes from the Psalms.
But as all of us also know, it’s so easy to get caught up in emotion that we can voice something that we have failed to put our hearts behind. In our desire to “please” God, we can sometimes tell God what we think God probably wants to hear, but in time we discover that we didn’t really mean what we were saying at the time. And we hope that God will understand.
This Psalm does not warn us not to be making vows to God. People do that throughout Scripture. Samson’s parents made a vow to God that their son would be a Nazirite and would serve God from his birth to his death. Hannah prayed for a son, and when Samuel was born, she gave him up to God, just as she vowed she would. Zacchaeus, upon receiving Jesus’ friendship, vowed that he would restore unto those he cheated four times what he had taken from them, which he did, resulting in the praise of Jesus: “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:9). Nowhere in the Bible are we warned not to make vows to God, but everywhere are we told that when we do make a vow, it is important that we fulfill it.
That’s why I’ve been preaching for this past month that what you pledge toward this campaign needs to be something that God leads you to do. You don’t need to pledge to keep up with another member. You don’t need to pledge to make me happy. You need to pledge only for the joy of being a part of what God is going to be doing in our midst, and you need to be preparing to honor that pledge in whatever ways God will allow you to do it in order to please Him.
In that regard, there are two things that I want to say to you on this Commitment Sunday. One, the vow that you will be making this morning is a vow between you and God. It’s not a vow between you and me, or between you and any other person; and to that end, if for some reason, either valid or invalid, you fail to live up to your pledge, I, nor anyone else from this church, will be calling you about it. I’ll always be happy to talk with you and pray with you about whatever it is that might cause you to have to alter your pledge, but that’s your decision. I won’t be initiating that conversation.
Secondly, I must warn you that as soon as you put down a number on that pledge card, you can rest assured that Satan will do everything in his power to keep you from fulfilling your vow. I don’t say that to scare you, and I certainly don’t say it to dissuade you from filling out a commitment card; I’ve certainly gone ahead and filled out mine. But it’s just to say that as soon as you do it, your faith will be challenged, as mine has already been challenged. That’s just the way this faith journey works.
So, I’m inviting you to join me in trusting God and in believing that it’s not Satan who is to be feared; it’s God who is to be feared. It’s God who is to be reverenced and adored. Such is the spirit of this 76th Psalm. He is the Great and Mighty God who has promised to deliver us from all the darts of the enemy, if only we will strive to be faithful in the midst of the struggle. If we simply strive to be found faithful, the power of God -- that same power that saw Jesus through his time of wilderness temptation – that power will see us through our times of challenge and testing as well; if only we will be found faithful.
My model is going to be that woman I read about who was the handy person around her house. She was married, but her husband wasn’t much help; not so much because he was “maintenance-challenged” as he was just plain lazy. So, his wife did all the work.
One day, she was working on a repair project with a hammer that had the claw end missing. The husband, taking it all of it, started laughing. “What are you laughing at?” the wife asked. “I’m laughing at you,” the husband replied. “Why, look at that hammer you’re using. It doesn’t even have the claw end. How can you use it?” “I like it,” she answered. “How can you like it?” the husband asked. And pointing the hammer in his direction, she said, “Because when I drive in a nail, I have no intention of having to pull it back out.”
God, help me to be that kind of person and for us to be that kind of people. God, help us to honor You with our faithfulness, believing that when we put a stake down, even as we are doing as Your people today, regardless of the challenges and obstacles that come our way, You can be trusted to see us through.
This church has been “here” for a long time, and for no other reason than for how people looked to God for that help and in that hope. And if we’re going to be “here” for another Sunday, much less for “life,” it will require nothing less from us than the same.
That’s the commitment that I am pledging to make on this day, and I invite you to consider making it with me.