Ways To Give

I Hereby Vow

Written by Julie Cosgrove

There’s more to confession than just saying you’re sorry.

“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalm 50:14-15, ESV)

Have you ever watched the courtroom shows on TV? Not the reality ones on today, but the older ones where the lawyers discover who really “done it”, and get their wrongly accused client off through their careful sleuthing. The lawyer ends up the hero with everyone applauding, and his client applauding the loudest. I love those shows – good triumphs over evil and justice prevails. Oh, if that was only true in real life, right?

All the people who are called to the stand must raise their right hand and make a vow to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Then they are asked to not only make that vow to the court, but to God as their ultimate judge. Of course, it turns out some of them don’t. Lying to the courts is perjury. Lying to God is worse.

As a child you may have prayed the “now I lay me down to sleep” prayer. It is a prayer of releasing control. Kids are used to someone else controlling their lives. As adults, it is easy to forget that our next breath comes from God, much less our day ahead. What do you vow to God each morning? Do you offer Him your day in thanksgiving that you woke up this morning?

Whatever happens to you today, if you begin it with a thankful vow to God that it will be His, He will be there for you. You may not have a zippy-de-do-dah day, but you will not walk it alone. The Almighty who can see all and knows all will be right by your side, and on your side.

If you are wrongly accused, your Judge will be there to eventually sort out the truth and deliver you. Like on the old courtroom shows, it may have to be revealed slowly, but in the end, people will see your God was at work in your life and give Him the glory.

Until then, our job is twofold. One, we are to wake up each day and thank Him again, then give the day (and ourselves) to Him to use according to His will, knowing that He knows best. We may feel as if we are in a prison cell—trapped by circumstances in our lives, or shackled by hurts when others have done us wrong. But our role throughout it all is to stay put and let someone wiser than us handle the situation. Like the lawyers on TV, our LORD will tell us when we are to speak, and when we must just sit back and bite our tongues as the world watches.

Secondly, if we have done something wrong, we must immediately confess it to Him, or He cannot handle our case. True, we cannot hide anything from God. However, part of trusting God is confessing everything to Him. That also means trusting He will deliver us in the times of need.

God is ultimately our Judge and jury. If we thankfully give each day to Him, the sacrifice His Son made on the cross will prove our innocence before Him, and eventually our peers. But first, any wrongdoing on our part must be voluntarily revealed and we must plead the court’s mercy. Then, justice can prevail in the Judge’s most perfect timing.

Questions: Are you in need of a spiritual lawyer to stand up for you? Will you give the situation to God to handle, knowing in His most perfect timing, justice will prevail?

2 Responses to “I Hereby Vow”

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• Andrew says:

  May 10, 2012 at 9:45 pm

  @Sue one of the most difficult things as a parent is to give a child love who does not return the favor. In life sometimes you have to let go and allow her to walk down the path that she wishes to walk down. I understand as a parent you wish to fix it but until the Holy Spirit prompts her to discuss the issue with you or with someone else the more she will clam up. Show her love and don’t expect anything in return and don’t pressure to find out what is wrong or why she does not love you. If you have a broken marriage and no longer are married she may very well blame you for part of this and has never been able to heal. In my life I have learned the only thing I can control is what I do with my life for others to see this in me. YOU will never be able to get your daughter to tell you what is wrong as waiting on the lord is often the most difficult and pushing the issue makes it worse. Accept it and ask God through the Holy Spirit to change things as you will never be the Holy Spirit. God Bless
• sue says:

  April 26, 2012 at 5:51 pm

  hi Sue here, this devo by julie really hit home with me, Im walking thru a dark valley right now with my daughter, ( she is a born again believer yes) but for some odd reason she stays angry at me most of the time, She has never told me why, I ask she leaves the room, it is lenghty to explain here, but she wont tell me ever why she is upset with me, only thing she ever says when we have a meeting,(for the nost part) is ,,,”I can never please you ” which I dont understand, I have prayed and prayed over this matter to the point i feel God is tired of hearing me, i cant fix something i dont know is broken, all i ask of her is her love, but for some reason she cant or wont give it, She is loved by her co workers, church family, all of our family and her husbands family and her kids,,,, but she is loved by me more than I could ever ever tell her,, she has something in her heart with me and it is tearing my life apart, I had a freind say they would talk to her to find out, but so far they havent, this really upsets me alot, My life right now feels lonely without her in my daily walk, Im her mom and I do deserve respect and I do give respect to her,,,, Not sure what to do,, Ive prayed so much……..

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