“Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few.”

We live in the age of hasty words.  Words spoken and words written are hastily presented as if saying them first is more important than saying them correctly and truthfully.  These statements that are made can also come out as declarations then perceived as promises made from authority.  We have been living through this for the past 17 months as scientists and doctors think they know something, but are only proven wrong as more data is accumulated and analyzed.  Are they wrong in not knowing, or finding new information that leads them in another direction?  I don’t think so.  But, it is the hasty words and declarations that come back to bite them.  I was taught to be humble enough to reserve the right to get smarter.  That means being less hasty with what I think I know.

Interesting that in Ecclesiastes we are told to not be hasty in bringing matters before God.  It’s certainly not that God doesn’t want us to bring all that we have to Him, so I think it is more in the vein of being still and knowing that He is God.  I’ve found that when I rush to God for Him to resolve what I think He should be carrying for me, that more often than not I’ve not yet figured out what it is that He wants me to do first.  Being less hasty is a good lesson.  God will handle it all for us, but maybe today he wants us to slow down and let Him talk to us more than us talk at Him.

Reference: Ecclesiastes 5:2 (New Living Translation)