Guard Your Steps
I do not know when I have enjoyed a project as much as I have enjoyed reading through the Bible. It has compelled me to be more diligent in reading. I hope the project has not become a chore, but rather has increased your delight in the word.
Last week’s reading took us through the book of Ecclesiastes. A passage that stood out in my reading was Ecclesiastes 5:1-3:
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and yo are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool’s voice with many words.
Notice the word “better.” It appears often in Ecclesiastes—especially in chapter 7:
A good name is better than precious ointment.
The day of death is better than the day of birth.
It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting.
Sorrow is better than laughter.
It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools.
Better is the end of a thing than its begining.
The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
The word “better” appears a few times in chapter 4:
Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to take advice.
See also 9:4; 9:16; 9:17, 18.
Chapter 5 begins, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God.” The next line tells us what the author has in mind. “To draw near” and to “guard our steps” appear to mean the same thing. The writer of Hebrews speaks often of drawing near:
drawing near to the throne of grace (4:16)
drawing near to God (7:19, 25; 11:6)
drawing near with a true heart in full assurance of faith… (10:22)
The setting is the house of God, the Temple. When you go to the Temple, do so with a specific intent: “listen.” To listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools. The sacrifice of fools is spelled out as being rash in speech, or hasty to utter a word before God. The writer’s advice: “Therefore let your words be few.”
I think this is what James had in mind when he writes:
…let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. Therefore pout away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is abl to save your souls (James 1:19-21).
With all this in mind, look at the next paragraph:
When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better than you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For whem dreams increase and words grow many, thee is vanity; but God id the one you must fear (Eccl. 5:4-7).
While the words of Ecclesiastes are directed toward someone going to the house of God, James addresses people who are described as being the house of God or the Temple of God. That is quite a difference!
Rather than focus on some kind of application, I want to ask you what kind of impact these words have on you?