[Ecc 5] Therefore Stand in Awe of God(Lim)

John C Lim

Ecclesiastes 5

 ¹ Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

 ² Do not be quick with your mouth,
       do not be hasty in your heart
       to utter anything before God.
       God is in heaven
       and you are on earth,
       so let your words be few.

 ³ As a dream comes when there are many cares,
       so the speech of a fool when there are many words.

 ⁴ When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. ⁵ It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. ⁶ Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.

             In general, we have a fairly relaxed view of God.  We’ve seen how God is portrayed in a mocking way by movie stars, celebrities and sometimes by politicians.  We shrug it off and go about our business.  Therefore, when we encounter this passage before us, we may be a bit puzzled as to how God is portrayed.  Our view of God should be based on what God’s Word says about Him and not what we would like to think of God or what other people think of God.  There is a big difference between our perception of God and who He truly is based on Scriptures.  Some may like to think of God as a jolly old grandfather kind of a figure not too different from beaming Santa Claus.  Just as Santa Claus is an imaginary figure, people often equate God as an imaginary being.  In their mind, God does not actively intervene and engage with the world on a daily basis.  However, it is a terrible travesty for us to picture God in any way that is contrary to how He is seen in the Word of God.

            Solomon now tells us something about God.  How do we view God?  Do we think about God in our day to day activities?  How often do we utter His name as we go about with our business every day?  Solomon begins this section with a solemn warning.  Look at verse 1.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

            Our attitude about God determines how we view God and how we engage God in our lives.  How we were brought up in our homes may have had some impact on our understanding of God as well.  Our family, our church, and in greater extent, our culture also shape our perspective on God.  Even our friends and people whom we respect have profound impact on how we view God as we tend to assume their views as ours.  Solomon tells us to guard our steps when we go to the house of God. 

            What he means by this is to be deliberate in our steps when we go to the house of God.  In the Old Testament, Solomon’s Temple represented God’s presence.  As Solomon viewed God as majestic and all powerful, the temple was built to reflect God’s glory and His majestic presence.  Solomon is cautioning people to be deliberate and thoughtful when they go to the house of God.  Going to the house of God is not like going to the grocery store a few blocks away or going to the theater to watch a movie on a lazy afternoon.  Going to the house of God is like nothing else we do in the world. 

            But even as we think about the physical house of God, we need to also think about how we approach our God in our own places of worship as well as how we approach him in the comfort of our private space.  Whenever we call out to God no matter where we are, we are in the presence of God.  When we utter God’s name in an effort to communicate with Him, we must first be aware of our attitude and examine ourselves carefully. 

            Solomon tells us to go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools.  We are to go to the house of God to listen with open heart, and open mind.  Usually when we get an audience with someone in powerful position, we either go with a certain request in mind or we go with a receptive posture willing to receive any guidance we may get.  We either plead our case or we receive instruction.  There is something formal about our encounter with God when we go to the house of God.  Our audience with God is an awesome privilege and must be viewed in such a way, not to be treated with contempt or in a casual manner. 

            Our attitude as we approach God is to humble ourselves and to avail ourselves to His guidance.  We go to the house of God ready and willing to listen for His instruction.  We do not go to the house of God to be entertained or to make ourselves feel something for our own gratification.  People can go to movies and operas to be entertained and emotionally moved by the experience. Going to the house of God is a special privilege granted to us who believe in God.  When we go to the house of God, we go with anticipation of receiving His directives.  Sometimes it comes as an admonition and sometimes it comes as an encouragement.  God communicates to us through His Holy Spirit for His glory and for our sanctification.   

            When we pray to God, we believe earnestly that He hears our prayers and sees the burden in our hearts.  But even as we pray to God, do we approach Him with that yearning for His guidance?  At times we find ourselves invariably praying to Him with our own desires and our own wish list that may or may not be in accordance with His will for our lives.  Because we are fallen human beings, our natural tendency is to fall back on our sinful nature.  As we continue to live in this fallen world, we constantly struggle against our own sinful desires.  We want to remind ourselves that there is a chasm between His thoughts and our thoughts.  Our thoughts usually hover on our own selfish desires.  When we think about our prayer in this way, we can catch ourselves quickly falling into this pattern that does not bring honor and glory to God. 

            God is the Creator and the Maker of heavens and earth.  We have been formed out of dirt in the ground.  We dare not tell Him what to do but He would tell us what we should do.  The first part is to have the biblical understanding of God and us.  So we go to the house of God to listen, not to offer ideas on what He should do or ought to do.  We approach God with yearning heart, obedient to hear His guidance.  Let’s look at verse 2 as we see what Solomon tells us. 

 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.  God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

           Doesn’t this verse confirm this?  Solomon reminds us about the clear distinction between the Creator and the creature.  God is the Potter and we are simply a vessel created by His hand.  God is in heaven and we are on earth.  There is a big difference in status between God and us.  And Solomon advises that because of such difference in our standings, let our words be few.  He warns us not to be hasty in our heart to utter anything before God.  There is a definite protocol that must be observed. 

            Even if we were to have an audience with the monarch of a nation, we have to be prepared to offer appropriate salutations and observe proper protocol.   How much more when we are in the presence of God the Creator!  Our encounter with God is not simply with the mayor, governor, senator, or president but with the God of the universe.  In that context, what is our attitude?  What is our posture before God?  Our proper response is that we are fully aware of our place before God and therefore as a result, we would not be so quick with our mouth or hasty in our heart to utter anything before God.  We want to measure our words and contemplate deeply so that our hearts are in tune with His Spirit before we utter our concerns to Him.      

            Whenever we approach God, we go to Him while claiming the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross 2,000 years ago for us.  We have no standing with God except through the redemptive work of Christ, our Lord and Savior.  So we go to the House of God while we cover ourselves with the garment that was washed in the blood of Christ.  This does put a different perspective even as we approach God in our prayer.  Every time we go to Him, we are deeply cognizant of the fact that it is only by the grace of God that we can approach Him.  Who among us can truly offer the purest prayer?  No one can do this.  And as we are aware of our inability to stand before Him without a single blemish of wrong motives, we confess that we come to Him humbly and gratefully through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

            Therefore when we go before God, we always remind ourselves that we go to Him through the completed work of Christ.  We realize that we go to the house of God, fully aware that we are merely redeemed sinners in His presence.  When we think about our approaching God in this manner, we cannot but be humble and contrite as we reflect on great sacrifice Christ made on our behalf.  At the same time, we can be bold and courageous as we are confident that through Christ, we have become God’s children.  As children of God, we can call God, our Heavenly Father.  What can we then say to God other than to praise Him for who He is and give thanks to Him for what He has done on our behalf?  Praising God and giving thanks is all that we can do.  When we truly understand where we stand in the presence of God, we would not be quick with our mouth or offer sacrifice of fools.   Look at verse 3.

As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.

            Again, this idea of many words without substance is highlighted.  The more our mind is cluttered or distracted with all the worries of this life, more words will stumble out of our mouth.  Countless words out of our mouth only prove how much we need to hear ourselves talk to make us feel better.  And that is not the way we want to approach God with our heartfelt concerns.  Obviously in this verse the idea of long and laborious speech is not viewed in a positive way.  Many words do not make our plea to God more effective or meaningful.  Quite the contrary, fewer words gratefully and thoughtfully offered up to God is what Solomon exhorts us to do.  Look at verses 4-6.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. ⁵ It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it. ⁶ Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?

            When we are confused and troubled, we tend to say a lot of things and things we didn’t even mean to say.  When we are in trouble, we also say a lot of things that we may regret later.  What Solomon is saying here is how we should give more thoughts on what we utter before God.  Once the words are spoken, they have been heard.  Saying things and making vows should not be taken lightly.  There is some deliberation and intentionality when we are talking about making vows and saying things.  Words have consequences.  If we are not certain, it is better not to say them. 

            We can apply this simple concept in our daily lives as well.  When we sign a promissory note that we will pay it back, we are making a vow with the banks, mortgage companies or other lending institutions that we would pay back.  We have too many broken promises between the lenders and borrowers.  People even run away from their failed business ventures leaving behind other people to pay for the consequences of their own irresponsible vows.  We have too many examples of something in this vein, do we not?  As believers, we understand that our words and actions have consequences.  When we make vows to people or to God, we are making promises.  We then keep those promises even when things turn out badly for us. 

            We have seen far too many people who would claim their Christian faith when securing loans only to run and hide when they can’t pay.  Those who trusted them and kept their end of the deal are now left with broken promises, broken trust, and broken friendship.  Just because we didn’t make those vows with God does not excuse us from fulfilling those vows after all we did make them in God’s presence.  Anything we say or do is done in the presence of God.  There is no reason for us to qualify what we say by adding such meaningless phrase as, “I swear before God,” or “Honestly speaking.”  By saying these empty phrases, are we saying that people should not trust us unless we mention God or qualify what we say with “honestly speaking?”    

            Our word is our bond.  When Christians are serious about the words we speak, the world would take what we say more seriously.  It is especially sad when the world sees how flippantly we say things in the name of our God.  When we do this, we might be guilty of actually treating God with contempt and dishonor Him through our words and actions

            Everywhere we look, we see the basic vow between people being shattered because of greed and selfish reasons.  People are even breaking their marriage vows because they supposedly fell out of love.  When we made that sacred vow before people and God, we made a commitment to keep that promise.  Yet, we see people break up left and right due to what they conveniently term “irreconcilable differences.”  That is simply a technical sounding word that rings hollow.  All it means is that we were quick to make vow without fully considering what we were about to enter into.  And now that we find out we made a big mistake, we try to find our way out of it by using those noble sounding words in many cases.    

            If we think that this passage only applies to vows we make with God, we are sadly mistaken.  Every vow we make with people or institutions are laid bare before God’s presence.  If we seriously considered anything that we sign with our name, we would be more careful and more responsible as we are held accountable.  Whether we make vows with God or with men, we must keep them and fulfill them.  We are only as trustworthy as our commitment to keep what we say and do what we said we would do.  Anything less than that is not acceptable.  But we also recognize that we are unable to keep our vows and promises in many cases.  As much as we want to and desire to keep our vows, we do fail again and again, time after time.  This is why we come before God trembling for we know our hearts and our own failures.  We are deeply troubled as we confess before God that we are unable to stay true to His Word in our lives and we are unable to keep our vows to men and to God.

            Today, we are hearing different kind of message from the world.  The world tells us that it is not our fault but someone else’s.  This is a very dangerous and irresponsible way to evade our personal accountability.  Although we realize we cannot be perfect, we must not take that to mean that we can deliberately break vows at will.  We want to honor what we say.  Let us not bogged down on technicalities when it comes to our integrity!  Let’s not get in the habit of justifying our dishonorable practice by finding loopholes in what we said!  We know deep in our heart we are wrong when we do this.

            Finally let’s look at verse 7.

Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.

            Solomon tells us that all the dreaming and words are simply meaningless.  No matter how clever we think we are by twisting words to our advantage, the ultimate judge for all that we do is God in heaven.  He is not to be mocked.  Solomon tells us to stand in awe of God therefore.  When we adhere to Solomon’s exhortation and live our life with the keen sense of standing in awe of God, surely that would change our perspective in how we conduct ourselves and live before others in our world. 

            All that we say and all that we do are in the presence of God.  We would ask God to empower and enable us to live life that will honor Him and bring glory to His name.  Let us pray.