There is honor for a woman who says what she means and means what she says. Speaking empty words or promises you have never intended to keep does not make the Lord satisfied- it makes His promises faulty in your own mind. Our psychological reasoning becomes twisted when we tell fake statements, lies, or false judgments because we project our own struggle (of insincerity and dishonesty) onto everyone around us. This leaves us trusting and believing no one, mostly God.
God is a God of kept promises and He doesn’t ask, He expects, us to keep ours. Whether made to Him or those around us or even to ourselves, what we say is measured to have its worth by the actions that stand firm behind it.
A big portion of my life I wasn’t honest with others or myself. I exaggerated stories to make myself more appealing to others whether that is through more achievements, a better aftereffect to what actually happened, or fudging my own characteristics, hobbies, and family tendencies to better connect with those around me. I wanted to have stories that in my mind were worth telling, so I would add to them, fabricate parts here and there as to feel like the life I was living was a standard higher than just average. I was honestly just a product of my environment. Things I sat down and lectured myself about changing never seemed to find themselves checked off my list.
What came out of my mouth were words that were as small as ants on the pavement and I was the monster crushing each and every one of them with the ways in which I lived my life. Actions speak louder than words, my mom has told me that a time or two. I knew my words were cheap even before I said them and as a Christian girl on quite possibly one of the most grandiose adventures of her life, I still struggle with that need to impress others. Sometimes I think it’s that I am a coward, but I remember as humans we see it safer to choose a familiar path than to create a new one. Our past sin scars us in these ways and our words DO mean everything that God intended for them to convey. For me, empty promises wreck my past but most certainly do NOT define my future.
On my left forearm I have a tattoo that is four words long, it says:
He
keeps
His
promises
No period at the end, just an open ended, bold, true statement. Four very important people in my life each wrote a word and it’s a reminder branded on the temple the Lord’s blessed me with (my body) that everything He has said, says, and will say He means. There’s much more depth behind the reasoning and people involved in the tattoo-I would love to fill in those blanks for you on a more intimate note, but how true is that statement?
I am in love with the book of Matthew-absolutely crazy about all that’s packed into that portion of the bible. Matthew 18:18 spells out that the Lord keeps His promises when it says, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
He means that when He makes us a promise, God the Father has the entire heavens to not only help him fulfill that for us, but hold Him accountable. But because He is the ultimate, the alpha and the omega, He needs only our own acknowledgement of that promise to blow our expectations out of the water as to what He can and WILL do. If it’s never a thought in your mind that God HAS promises for you, then how can He surpass all your human assumptions and captivate you with love in the fulfillment?
It’s easy for us to be able to tell God why HE needs to do everything for us that we are holding Him accountable to, but why do we find ourselves angry when others point a finger at us in dismay? Our pride gets the best of bitterness and festers in us when we are called out in blame for failing to let our actions coincide with what we said. Just because I don’t always uphold my half of the deal or speak truthful statements, doesn’t mean I cannot tell you that saying what you mean and meaning what you said are both important. As people who are striving to love, change others for the better, and be affected in all the right ways by this world, not to mention our love for Jesus, we should be people of our word. It’s important to honor God that way.
God is merciful with us even when we proclaim things we don’t actually intend on meaning. Like with Jephthah. Have you ever heard of Jephthah? Born to a prostitute and a mighty man, he was called to lead the Israelites into an attack against the Ammonites. The distressed Israelites DID promise him royalty after the battle but that’s not the importance of the story here. Jephthah said yes gallantly and led the army onward. In the midst of the fighting Jephthah makes a promise to the Lord, he vows, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, [God.] I will give to the Lord the first thing coming out of my house to greet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.” (Judges 11:30)
True to His word, the Lord brings victory and the Ammonites are defeated with flare and precision. Jephthah runs home, in the moment forgetting his promise to the Lord. Honestly I am struck by our own tendency to say certain things all the time. What or who did Jephthah expect to come to him after such an exciting time, his goat? Out runs his daughter into his arms to greet him. She is the first thing to greet him with her dancing, joy, and big wide smile. He is well aware- with sobs, tearing of his clothes in distress, and with heartbreak- the promise He made to God and the need to keep it. In such a time that should be followed up with celebration and feasting Jephthah declares it to be a tragedy. I’m struck by this man’s obedience to his Father and how intently he made the right choice, to keep his word before God. But then again, he said those words in full during a time when victory tasted sweeter than thought of what his words would entail.
Two reminders exist amidst this story, the first being the power of the wording we use before God. God never wants to enslave us within the very words we say to Him, but if you expect large things out of Him, He may ask extravagance beyond our understanding on our part. You know God is a good God because of the response Jephthah’s daughter has. She tells her dad, “Father, you have made a promise to the Lord. You must do to me what you have promised for the Lord has given you a great victory over your enemies.”
And the second reminder finds itself in the story because of the daughter too. Sometimes another person may be blessed or cursed in the fulfillment of our promises-whether those promises be empty ones or full. If God would have stopped Jephthah the paternal figure that he was and told him the brunt of his promise to the Lord, do you think he would have still asked God for that victory? Do you think the story would be told different in the bible? Would all of Israel and potentially humanity today have suffered because he didn’t quite know the depth of his promise? Either way God uses Jephthah’s pleas and purpose to completion in the lives of the Israelites, Jephthah, and even the daughter. Who are we to decide what God can and cannot use? But the Lord would have been cheated of what could have come out of that promise if Jephthah had relented and chosen to NOT sacrifice her. Sorry to ruin the ending, but he does kill his daughter for the sake of God’s causes and today women in Israelite still lament her fate and remember the part she played in her father’s vow.
God’s good.
God always holds up His end of the deal. No matter the circumstance, amount of people who have wronged you before, sins you’ve committed, or the worth you’ve determined for yourself what He promises you, He lovingly gives to you.
If the thoughts I have about myself on a daily basis or the ways I have wronged others, myself and God were to dictate His mighty ability to bless me or fulfill promises to me then I would be stagnant and pitying myself in Wisconsin unable to create a next step for myself. Because I am a broken individual, I don’t always choose to put the Lord on His deserving pedestal the Lord but I am still worthy of what He’s promised me. So there’s no excuse to play God, idolizing yourself and your own flaws and not strive to hold up your end of the deal.
So let your promises come to fruition but make sure in the speaking of them that God’s behind your words.
