Ecclesiastes 5 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence

Because evil stems from the heart, even worship in the house of God is not immune to emptiness and vanity. Thus, in one’s pursuit of God, he or she may be still be chasing after the wind. Solomon was not the only person to recognize this truth, for many of the prophets pointed it out throughout Israel’s history. Isaiah spoke God’s word to his people saying, “Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.” God also spoke through the prophet Amos saying, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps, I will not listen.” So in this passage, the king shares how to keep things simple in order to have meaningful worship, focusing on three essentials: He says God’s people must be quick to listen, slow to speak, and faithful in paying our vows.

Because worship is not to be manufactured by the imagination of man but by the will of God, it is essential that we listen to what God says about how we are to approach him, what we are to offer him and what He actually receives as an acceptable offering. Too many times individuals come into the presence of the Lord proudly and carelessly thinking that they can enact some sort of transaction with God that would either assuage their conscience or make the Lord beholden to them. Consequently, they are quick to set their own terms in worship, to place undue expectations upon the Lord, and to promise things that God never asked for nor needs. So, the first exhortation of Solomon is simply to listen to the voice of the Lord in His Word and be ready to respond in faith and love. For to obey is better than sacrifice.

Then, second, in terms of prayer, Solomon warns against making empty promises to God, for prayer is primarily our dependence upon the Lord and his will. We are called to offer up our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will, not to promise things unto God in order to somehow change his will. Many people who make unnecessary vows unto God do so with the intentions of trying to manipulate God in some manner. In the same manner, we should be careful in how we speak unto God. He is not our servant, but we are his, and we must remember that when we are coming before him in prayer, approaching Him with humility and reverence that is due his name. Again, we cannot manipulate God with our prayers to force him to do our will. Needless repetition of the same prayer over and over again will not change the mind of God. Of course, we may need to pray the same prayer to cast our burden upon Him, but we should never expect that He must do what we want simply because we prayed really hard for it, or repeated our prayers numerous times. Jesus said that this is the pattern of the pagans that accomplishes nothing, and then he taught a very simple and brief prayer for the disciples to use as a pattern.

But, then third, Solomon says, if we do make a vow to God, we should not delay in paying it for He takes no pleasure in fools. Solomon here is merely reiterating the law of God in Deuteronomy 23:21, which reads, “You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised.” We are not to make a vow and then later say it was a mistake. That was a common custom in Israel. Insincere professors would make a vow and then when the temple priest or his messenger came around to collect on the vow, they would say to the messenger “It was an error.” “Error” is a technical term in the Hebrew meaning “a sin of ignorance.” Solomon says that if you do this, God’s anger will not take it lightly, for you are taking His name in vain. Certainly this is also a New Testament principle for God also taught the church a lesson through the unfulfilled vow of Ananias and Saphira when they made a pledge to the Lord and then kept back some of it for themselves. They were lying to the Holy Spirit and God does not take that lightly. In Jeremiah Burroughs book, Gospel Worship, he says, “In the matters of worship God stands upon little things.” By this he meant the things we count as small or insignificant, God takes even these things seriously, especially when they are done in His name.

Because God takes worship and vows seriously, and He desires our serious and genuine devotion and obedience, let us not approach the Lord of all the earth casually and flippantly, but et us approach God with simplicity, honesty, and a heart that seeks to honor and please Him above all else.