Day 19

Vows to the Lord

from the Leviticus reading plan


Leviticus 26:13-46, Leviticus 27:1-34, Psalm 116:12-14, 2 Corinthians 9:7-8

BY Erin Davis

“Cross my heart,
And hope to die.
Stick a needle
In my eye.” 

Clearly, we’re all a little skeptical in the promises department. If someone commits to buying our house, we want collateral in hand and their signature in ink. If a man promises to love and cherish us for life, we want a diamond ring to back it up. And if someone on the playground vows to be our best friend for life, we want to know that they know there will be painful consequences if they break that promise. We earned our skepticism through experience. Most of us are more familiar with promises of the broken variety than the ones that are actually kept. The God of the universe can surely empathize. 

He is, by nature, a covenant-seeking God. He placed a bow in the sky as a sign of His commitment to Noah that He would never again drown His creation (Genesis 9). He promised Abram descendants as many as the stars (Genesis 15:5) along with a vast new land to inhabit (vv.17–21). He promised David that He would establish his kingdom forever (2Samuel 7:13). 

Each time, God set an expectation that the recipients of His divine promises would worship Him alone and keep His law. Each time mankind failed. It seems one of the ways sin has marred us is by making us prone to break our word. How many times have you promised that you’d turn from a certain sin, only to find yourself willingly partaking again? How many times have you vowed to embrace the disciplines of Bible study and prayer more consistently, only to choose the snooze button the next day? How often have you defaulted to fear when you know you  serve a God who parts the waters?

My goal is not to shame you. Sister, I have no stones to throw. But when we consider how often we fail to do what we’ve promised, it makes His fidelity to us that much more remarkable. 

The end of Leviticus can feel jarring. God made it clear that the Israelites’ failure to keep their promise to love and obey would bring consequences worse than a needle to the eye. What’s a promise-breaking sinner to do? Keep reading. 

“Then I will remember my covenant” (v. 42). 

Our unfaithfulness does not get the final word. Through Jesus Christ, God made a new covenant with humankind, promising to forgive our sin and restore our fellowship with Him (Luke 22:20). Though we are weak and willful, He is strong and fiercely committed to our redemption. 

Post Comments (27)

27 thoughts on "Vows to the Lord"

  1. Penny W says:

    “Yet in spite of this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or abhor them so as to destroy them and break my covenant with them, since I am the Lord their God. For their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God; I am the Lord.””
    ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭26:44-45‬ ‭CSB‬‬
    God so often says He does things for the sake of His name, for His glory; but here He says, “For their sake…” What a magnificent God we serve, Who deals so graciously and lovingly with His people!

  2. Alayna P. says:

    God is good and He loves us ❤️

  3. Susan Lincks says:

    Amen

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