April 26, 2021 – Click here to listen
Several years ago a friend had nowhere to store his motorcycle and asked if he could put it in my garage for a while. I told him no problem and he told me just to treat is as my own and ride it anytime I wanted. It was a brand new Kawasaki 1000 and was like sitting on a rocket ship and faster than the wind.
I bought my first used beat-up motorcycle at 12 years old and went through several improved versions as I grew older. My favorite was a Mustang chopper with high handle bars and a couple of Harleys that I cherished and was very familiar with riding bikes. So one day I decided to take my friends Kawasaki stored in my garage for a spin and see what that baby would do.
I was shocked at the speed that bike had. When I pulled out of my driveway it burned rubber for a hundred feet and again when I hit second gear. It was so exhilarating that I let out a whoop like a kid. So I drove it to a long straight stretch of road and took off like a rocket. I got it to 120 mph in second gear and was shifting to third when I happened to see a dog approaching the road and heading right in front of me. It happened so fast I couldn’t slow down and I just grimaced and turned my head and said, “Well this is it.” At the very last moment I saw the dog turn and dart back and I didn’t hit it.
I released the throttle and idled back to my home and put my friend’s bike in my garage and right then and there I thanked God for delivering me and made a vow to God that I would never get back on another motorcycle.
That occurred many years ago now and I have regretted making that promise to God many times since. I love Harleys and a few years after that incident the Lord had blessed me financially and I was so tempted to buy one that I decided to do it. I ordered a brand new shiny black Harley “Fat boy.”
After a couple of weeks the local dealer called and told me it was ready to be picked up. At the time I was negotiating a complex multi-million dollar deal and had no time to go pick it up. I asked him just to deliver it and to my surprise he refused. He rudely said if I wanted the bike, I could come pick it up. This incensed me and I launched into a tirade which made him mad and the saga ended with him telling me he would mail my deposit check and not to call back.
After I cooled down, I thought about my promise to God and how it had weighed upon my conscience to enter that Harley store and especially when I ordered it. And I remembered reading a passage in the Bible that God had King Solomon write in Ecclesiastes, “It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?” And when He led James to write in 5:12, But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Or even old Moses in Deuteronomy 23:21, “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth. Or the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 10:13, But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
In fact the Bible is chock full of such warnings. I was telling some friends about this at dinner the other night and my buddy’s wife said that it reminded her of how God always provides a way to escape temptation. I admit I wasn’t looking for one at the time, but nonetheless, the Lord provided it and He knew full well that my pride and temper would get the best of me and I would not end up with the Harley, (which I would have probably been killed on by now knowing my reckless nature.).
I still see guys roaring by me on Harleys from time to time and I am envious and long to feel the wind in my hair and hear the loud pipes, but I will do as David did in Psalm 56:10 I will remember that vows to God are binding on me O God.
So King David, King Solomon, the Apostle James, Moses, and the Apostle Paul all felt led to write about this subject, not to mention the myriad of other writers and warnings about keeping your vows. I’m not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but that tells me we need to apply this not just to vows made to God but also to include all vows. God is serious about this; I wish those nutcase politicians in D.C. and elsewhere would abide by it.
Numbers 30:1
Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, “This is what the Lord has commanded. If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.