{"id":28181,"date":"2023-10-09T22:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-4_1-16-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-09-12T14:52:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T21:52:13","slug":"ecclesiastes-5_1-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ecclesiastes-5_1-7\/","title":{"rendered":"What does it mean to \u201clet your words be few\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ecclesiastes 5:1-7.\u00a0 In case you\u2019re wondering, since I believe that Qohelet, known as the \u201cTeacher\u201d and the main speaker in Ecclesiastes, is best identified as King Solomon, I will refer to him interchangeably as Qohelet or Solomon.<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-3:\u00a0 Here Qohelet gives some advice on how to worship God in church: \u201cgo near to listen\u201d (v1) and \u201cdo not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God\u201d (v2); rather, \u201clet your words be few\u201d.\u00a0 Does this mean that the quieter you are in church, the more spiritual you are?\u00a0 No, Qohelet\u2019s talking about the attitude of your heart.\u00a0 When you go to worship God, go with a humble heart that\u2019s eager to listen and learn, rather than to boast about yourself or make promises you can\u2019t keep.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 is a good illustration of what Qohelet is talking about here.\u00a0 We need to watch the attitude of our heart when we go to worship God.<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 5:4-7 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the [temple] messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 4-7:\u00a0 God wants us to be people who keep our word and who make good on our promises (v4).\u00a0 He would rather that we not make a promise than to make a promise and not keep it (v5-6). So may we be careful not only in the words we say to people but to God as well, for God will hold us accountable to the words we say (Matthew 12:36).<\/p>\n

Father, because my words matter to You, I pray that I would be thoughtful and careful in the words I speak.\u00a0 I pray that I would be one who keeps my word and delivers on my promises, because that\u2019s how You are too.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ecclesiastes 5:1-7.\u00a0 In case you\u2019re wondering, since I believe that Qohelet, known as the \u201cTeacher\u201d and the main speaker in Ecclesiastes, is best identified as King Solomon, I will refer to him interchangeably as Qohelet or Solomon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-3:\u00a0 Here Qohelet gives some advice on how to worship God in church: \u201cgo near to listen\u201d (v1) and \u201cdo not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God\u201d (v2); rather, \u201clet your words be few\u201d.\u00a0 Does this mean that the quieter you are in church, the more spiritual you are?\u00a0 No, Qohelet\u2019s talking about the attitude of your heart.\u00a0 When you go to worship God, go with a humble heart that\u2019s eager to listen and learn, rather than to boast about yourself or make promises you can\u2019t keep.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28181"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28184,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28181\/revisions\/28184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}