Facing the Giant of MoneySample

Revisit the promises you’ve made! 

‘You will fulfill your vows.’ Job 22:27 NIVUK 

The former president of Baylor University, Rufus C. Burleson, once told an audience, ‘I’ve often heard my father talk about the honesty of his old friend, Colonel Ben Sherrod. Threatened with bankruptcy in his old age, and staggering under a debt of $850,000, a lawyer told him, “For just $5,000, Colonel, I can find a technical flaw in the whole thing, and get you off.” The old Colonel replied, “Sir, your proposition is insulting! People trusted me. I signed their notes in good faith and the last dollar will be paid, even if charity digs my grave.” My dad once took me to see him and his face and words are still imprinted on my heart and mind. 

‘Integrity is not doing what’s easy or what’s popular; it’s doing what’s right!’ Furthermore, if you have a right to hold God to His Word, doesn’t He have the right to hold you to yours? 

Listen: ‘You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways’ (Job 22:27-28 NIVUK). Go back and revisit the promises you’ve made! Why? Because nothing is more important than your confidence before God! 

Listen: ‘If our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask’ (1 John 3:21-22 NIV). Could this be your doorway out of trouble, or the key to the breakthrough you’ve been looking for? 

Prayer Point:

Lord, You tell us to 'let our yes be yes, and our no be no'. You also warn us against making promises lightly. Help me not to make promises to You or other people in an attempt to manipulate or gain an advantage. If I do promise something, help me to make good on that promise. I want to show the same integrity and faithfulness as You do, Lord. Thank You that I can trust You to keep Your word. Amen.  

Acknowledgements: God’s Little Devotional Book for Teens (David C Cook, 2001).