RTW March 9
Avoiding the Impulsive
“But if her husband refuses to accept her vow or impulsive pledge…”
Numbers 30:8
NOTE: Sorry, I said, “March 12th” in today’s video, and the lesson really is March 9th.
My Takeaways
Something Old
In the close walk, we will get to know God and learn to trust Him more. Therefore, in moments of crisis, we will pause rather than promise.
Vow
a solemn promise, pledge, or personal commitment
Impulsive
actuated or swayed by emotional or involuntary impulses
Rash utterance (KJV)
acting or tending to act too hastily or without due consideration.
Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. (NIV) Psalm 141:3
Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. (NIV) Psalm 51:15 (This is what we should do with our lips.)
Guard
- to keep safe from harm or danger; protect; watch over (Protect)
- to keep under close watch in order to prevent escape, misconduct, etc (prevent)
- to keep under control or restraint as a matter of caution or prudence (Prudence/discretion)
Something New
The wise King Solomon cautioned against making rash promises in Ecclesiastes 5:5, “It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.” (NIV) To avoid making impetuous declarations, let’s keep walking close to God.
Something to Do
Give consideration to what I say, and what I do.
A friend & co-worker just asked me Tuesday if I hear God speak to me. I told her in all truth I have never heard an audible voice but that I do feel he reveals himself to me in people and in scriptures.
Today was one of those days.
First I purposed in my heart a month or so ago to start to memorize one bible verse a week and wouldn’t you know it was Psalm 141:3
As women, wives, mothers, daughters and friends we or should I say I have a hard time knowing my limitations. I don’t want to fail my family if that even makes sense, so I just keep saying yes and keep going sometimes.
Something to do
Pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit to remind me not to make impulsive decisions.
I can relate to what you are saying! I also have a hard time saying no and then I end up feeling overwhelmed and also blaming others because it is all too much. It is not fair though that I blame others because I in the first place made the commitment. I am really working on that. I now always ask for some time to “speak about it with my husband”. Not that I need his permission for every single decision, but it has saved me more then once if I just speak with him. Sometimes in my enthusiasm I get upset because his lack of un-enthusiasm. But then he always points out that it is not just now what we are talking about but also the effects on the long term. I am so thankful that he is like he is and that I learned to listen to him better (I got this lesson through RTW by the way and trough bible study Keep It Shut from Karen Ehman). I always despised the “you have to submit to your husband thing”, but in my case it is a safeguard. And it does not mean that I am his doormat or something like that. Due to circumstances my wish to decide for myself has been really developed. I got disappointed, let down and over rolled so many times by the people I was not able to defend myself to as a kid and teenager that I decided “nobody is going to tell my anything anymore, I am the one making the decisions”. I am so happy that I am moving further and further away from this kind of attitude. And that I learned about forgiveness and consequences of own choices. My something to do is definitely to keep on paying attention to the things I say / Promise and do and to seek Gods counsel and my husbands ability to see long term consequences and make wise choices based on that… Have a wonderful day all of you!!!
I too can relate to being to quick to saying “yes”…..that is until about 3 years ago! Then as I was led to STOP ……….to spend more time with my Lord and to know Him more intimately,………… and now when I’m asked, I can honestly say to the individual, “Let me pray about that and get back with you in a few days”…..and then I pray!! Many times those requests are things I would love to do, but I’ve come to know that if they are not things the Lord want me to do, I will be stressed and will have difficulty in fulfilling my commitment!!
Sometimes, individuals know who will be willing to commit and will go to them, and “EXPECTING” those individuals to say “YES, and we (the doers) are more concerned about disappointing people instead of being sensitive to our Lord and what He wants in our lives!!(ask me how I know).
Unfortunately, we as “doers” can get a “Pride” in all that we do and accomplish, as others often look at us in admiration and often compliment us! The Lord impressed upon me that my relationship with Him was what He desired, for this season of my life, thus it has become so easy to, with a smile and a God confidence, reply to the request of me giving a commitment, “Let me pray about that and get back with you in a few days”……and then I pray and I’m willing to say “no”, if God doesn’t lead me to do it!
Blessings to all.
Carolyn
God created women with the natural mothering instinct and with that comes the wide range of taking on and caring for others. Knowing our gifts limitations is hard. We can run ourselves right in the ground…especially with social media and the EVER present information being funneled to us. We think we can help the whole world. lol
Wendy, you should have heard all my four legged friends start to bark when they overheard Maxi on your video…too funny.
Have a great Thursday, everyone. Good lesson Wendy.
That is really funny about your dog’s barking. I will have to play this video and see if my dog if she will bark when Maxi barks. I just love dogs so much. They are really funny. I think my dog barked one time when my mom and I were watching a movie that had a dog that was barking and I think she thought it was a dog barking outside and not on tv.
Thank you Wendy for helping me find nuggets of truth and relevance in these lessons! I think we have all stressed about being over committed and making an “impulsive vow.” A dear pastor/friend addressed this very issue a couple of years ago in a sermon and it often pops in my head when I start to over commit.
“Our YESES mean nothing if our NOS don’t mean something” (Dr, Glen Money).
Be blessed Wendy….you sure have blessed us❤️
Wendy,
I appreciate that you do not avoid these hard things in the Bible. Clearly, it is not for us to understand or be able to explain all scripture. I do think acknowledging what we don’t understand helps keep us humble as we study God’s word. Thanks for the suggestion of keeping Deuteronomy 29:29 handy.
Blessings,
Lynn
My Takeaways: Vows are important, especially those made to the Lord. When a war is fought in the name and power of God you can bet it’s for a good reason.
Something Old: Because of the Midianites sinful lifestyle God declared war. This brings me back to Sodom and Gomorrah. God is going to do what God needs to do. Maybe by natural disasters or by a holy war, but never is this our job. Evil comes when we take vengeance into our own hands.
Something New: Numbers 31:2 “A man who makes a vow to the Lord or makes a pledge under oath must never break it. He must do exactly what he said he would do.” Don’t make foolish vows. Breaking a vow is a sin. It was back in the day and still holds true today.
Something To Do: How many times have we heard things such as these said? I promise on a stack of Bibles. God if you make so and so better then I promise that I will give my tithe on a regular basis. Or maybe something like, God I promise I’m never going to do that again. I’ll start going to church if you’ll just….and on and on the promises go. How foolish are these remarks? Vows before God are to be taken seriously. Why make such promises? I need to do what I say I’m going to do. I don’t want to flippantly answer without thinking before I speak. I want my yes to be yes and my no to be no, just like Jesus said in the New Testament. If I would remember this then a vow would never be necessary.
Something Old
Odd that the Israelites kept the women alive…..they were the means by which the sin was originally committed. Through history (and today) women leading men into sexual sin is a BIG avenue of downfall for individuals, families, governments, kingdoms, cultures. Sin, it appears, remains sin and the enemy does not have to alter the game-plan much at all!
Something New
The priests went to battle with the Israelites and they took with them the Holy articles. Clearly this was an ordained fight.
The boys had to be killed as they would have grown and been forced by the cultural mandate to avenge their father’s death and to continue the cycle.
Something To Do
Everything had to be cleansed and purified before it could be used and accepted by God and His people. What can be kept and purified for God’s kingdom today? We as Believers are cleansed by the sacrificial blood of Christ as well as continuing to be purified by the Word of God. My To Do is to continually remember this great sacrifice and my response.
Great takeaways, you open my eyes and give me better understanding. Always love your comments.