Psalm 50:14-15 says that when you pay your vows, you can call on God in the day of trouble, and He will answer. In other words, if you make a vow and you fail to redeem it, do not be surprised if you call on God in the day of trouble and He does not answer you. Today, many Christians just make vows casually. Many a time, even when making the vow, they have no intention of paying it. Don’t postpone the payment of your vow when you can do it now. God sees those who do that as fools.

A vow is like a deal. When you make a deal with someone and you don’t fulfil your part of it, it is like stealing from that person. It is foolish to try to steal from God because what you are keeping away was provided by Him in the first place. If you made a deal with God, fulfil your part speedily. Worse still, some people make vows because they want the Pastor to pray for them at that moment, without any intention to fulfil it. How can you lie to God to receive blessings from Him? Is that not the height of foolishness?

Once you make a vow to God and the devil sees that you want to pay that vow, he will start telling you to defer it to later, saying that you don’t have enough yet or that God understands. Don’t listen to his lies so that God doesn’t see you as a fool.

One interesting thing about fulfilling a vow made to God is that the One you made it to has the ability to give you far more than you have promised to give Him. If you fulfil your vow, He would pour His blessings on you, but if you refuse to, He would also withhold what He would have given you in return. Hannah made a vow to God that she would give Him her son if He would bless her with one. This was after many painful years of waiting, and she didn’t know if she would ever have another child again. Imagine her holding her child in her hands at last and then giving the child over to God. Going back home without her child must have been a great sacrifice. She did it because that was her vow, and God gave her five more children in return (1 Samuel 2:21). Job 22:27-29 says it is those who pay their vows that can decree a thing, and it is established. It is foolishness not to pay your vows.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.