The Vows of the Lord
Recently I had the opportunity to preach here in Rwanda. This was actually the last opportunity I would have to preach in this country. God asked me to take a big leap of faith and trust in what He was about to ask me to share with the congregation, and in turn all of you. Remember my testimony of encountering God at my week of training many months ago in Georgia? Yeah, He asked me to share about that and all I have been learning about the love of Jesus since then. Not only this, He asked me to SING the song that He first used to reveal Himself through at training camp, What a Beautiful Name. I’m no professional singer, in fact I have zero confidence in my musical abilities because I’m pretty sure I don’t have any. Yet here God was asking me to step into sharing one of my most vulnerable periods of learning with an entire church congregation.
I was more excited than not as the ideas of sharing became clearer and clearer in my mind. However you can bet I had insecurities going into sharing this story and singing in the church. Fortunately for me, my African brother, Mucyo would be on stage with me both translating and singing alongside me.
You see, from the time I launched from training camp to now I have been learning about God’s love for me as His bride, His prized possession as 1 Peter 2:9 would describe us:
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Since I encountered the pursuit of Jesus to hold my heart, I have begun the process of discovering exactly what this means for me. I’ve asked questions like: What vows do you make to me? What vows can I make to you? What does it mean to be pursued by Christ? How do I trust in this love when I have been broken and hurt by love in the past? He has been faithful to begin answering these questions for me. For example, when we were on the beaches of Jaco, at the end of Month 1, I decided to study the vows He makes to us within the Word of God. Come to find out, THERE ARE MANY VOWS OF THE LORD. Here are a few that stand out as significant to me:
He vows to always be with me – Joshua 1:9
He vows to rescue, protect, deliver and honor me – Psalm 91:14-15
He vows to meet my needs – Philippians 4:19
He vows to strengthen me – Philippians 4:13
He vows to listen to me – Jeremiah 29:10-13
He vows to teach me – Psalm 32:8
He vows to guard my heart with peace – 2 Corinthians 1:20
Though He vows so much to me, I’ve found there’s no vow I can make to Him that will not waver, falter or stand the test of time. I, like all of us, fall into a margin of error and mistake where we come up short of the divine nature of love, promise and vow to another. Yes, here on earth we can attempt to love always, forgive quickly and choose not to walk away. Yet there will be days where even our mind wanders or considers the what ifs of leaving our loved ones. So, my vows can never prove equal to those of the Lord. What’s so beautiful in this is that I’ve realized God doesn’t care that we will fall short and mess up or walk away for an hour, a day or years of our lifetime. His faithfulness will stand tall. His vows will never be broken on His end. He actually just wants us to give Him our best, to wake up and choose Him despite our flaws, mistakes or issues. The only thing we can vow to God is to do our best to walk in these vows and to continue choosing Him each and every day.
When we realize God loves us more than we could ever love Him, We are struck with the decision to live loved by Him or to walk outside of His love. In choosing not to accept these vows freely offered to us, we choose to walk outside of them. We choose to walk without His protection, provision, love, community, etc. If we choose to walk in His love, we will experience the truth and promise of these vows. You will never live outside of His protection, provision, peace, strength or wisdom. It will always be available to you.
Just like I shared in giving this testimony, I have chosen to give my best “yes” to God. I have chosen to attempt to walk in devotion to Him, living within the bounds of His goodness and vows to us. So I wonder if you will choose to accept His vows to you? Will you accept them as truth and walk in His goodness?
To watch, you can check it out on Youtube here:
I LOVE how you see the heart of the Father. This is SO encouraging and exhorting. I’m so proud of you!!
“We are struck with the decision to live loved by Him or to walk outside of His love. In choosing not to accept these vows freely offered to us, we choose to walk outside of them. We choose to walk without His protection, provision, love, community, etc. If we choose to walk in His love, we will experience the truth and promise of these vows.” This was so profound for me! I made a copy and shared this blog with a client. And the singing was great! It’s really hard to truly comprehend how much God loves this broken hurting world, how much He loves US individually. Great sermon!