Guard your steps, heart, and words!
Ecclesiates Chapter 5:1-3http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiaste 5&version=NIV ↗
Read along with me . . .
This time God brought me to Ecclesiates Chapter 5:
5 [a]Guard 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. Do 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.
3 A dream comes when there are many cares,
and many words mark the speech of a fool.
What does God mean in these verses? What is the sacrifice of fools? What does it mean to listen, really listen? As I read and re-read these words, I felt a bit convicted that I am going to the LORD continually with my issues and my requests and so much busyness in my own mind and heart. Am I going to learn? Am I going to be fed? Am I going to draw near to God? Am I going to seek God and see how He shows up? Or am I instead coming with my preconceived notions and hurts and list of critical things ready to be easily offended at the first real or perceived slight? Am I going with an open heart and mind? To see what God has in store for me today? To open my heart and obey whatever the promptings of the Holy Spirit are? Am I going to listen to where God convicts me and be quick to confess and repent?
And what are the “sacrifices of fools”? The passages describe the attributes of fools – they aren’t listeners, they are oblivious to the wrong they do, they do offer sacrifices, they are quick to open their mouths. They are hasty in their heart to utter things and it sounds like they say whatever that comes to their mind without thinking. At the same time, the fools are going to church regularly and they are bringing sacrifices. I’m guessing on the outside the fools look like good, regular church goers. But the LORD of heavens refers to them as fools. Why? Because they are missing the point of worship, they are missing the point of sacrifice, they are missing the point of relationship with God.
Flipping these fools’ attributes around we can see what God longs for us to do instead. God longs for us to listen – to Him – to His Words – to His promptings from the Holy Spirit – to His convictions so we can be quick to confess and repent. He encourages us to guard our steps. How does one guard their steps? We need to be intentional about where we go heart, mind, and body. We need to be careful and prayerful. We need to recognize if our words, minds, and actions are entering into any foolish behavior. We need to offer sacrifices of the wise, with cheerful giving hearts, giving out of the overflow of God’s love for us and not with strings attached or foolish notions. We need to be regularly and humbly seeking the LORD for what and where we need to confess our own sinful hearts and motives. We need to be seeking to offer forgiveness and seek forgiveness from those we have hurt.
We are also instructed to not be hasty in our heart and to utter anything before our holy God. We need to think before we speak – not uttering whatever unfiltered thought comes to our minds. He also encourages us not to be hasty in our hearts. How is one hasty in our heart? We are quick to accept without processing and testing to see if it is good. We can’t just mindlessly allow things to enter our heart. We need to guard and protect it by wisely assessing whatever is good and right and pure. James 1: 9 “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” ,and Philippians 4: 8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” Then finally we need to let our words be few. Quite frankly we need to listen more and speak less.
Help us Father. Help us be wise with words and actions. Help us to guard our hearts and tongues. Help us to listen to you and be quick to obey. Help us to seek what you are saying to us more that seeking what we are saying to you. Thank you Father for your endless mercy and constant grace.