Does God Withhold Blessings When We Break Vows to Him?

Today’s question comes from my new friend Erin Garzelli. She made some very kind comments about one of my daily posts on LinkedIn (if you’re on LI feel free to follow and connect with me there). Erin is a brave veteran of our beloved armed forces and now she helps other veterans find safe and affordable housing. You can connect with her and get details on her critical work serving those who have served us here.

If you’d like to send in questions yourself and maybe get featured on a blog, just click here for our Ever Nearer contact form.

Let’s get to Erin’s question.

Does God Withhold Blessings When We Break Vows to Him?

The answer is a qualified no. It’s not a 100% no, but if you’re reading this blog, then it’s probably a no for you. Clear? No? Ok, how about we dig in together?

Before We Go Any Further…

Our first point is this: we should never make vows to God. In the middle of what is commonly referred to as The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave us this direction:

“Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, you must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.”
-Matthew 5:33-37 CSB

So, we should not be making oaths or vows to God. If we want to commit to doing or not doing some action, or making some change, then we don’t need to make a vow to God. We can just tell Him what we’re going to do. It’s not required, and frankly is not very humble when we make some giant show of it. God is not impressed by us taking a vow vs just saying what we will do (or not do). “Let your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ mean ‘no’” can be restated as, say what you’re going to do and then do it. As Jesus says, “anything more than this is from the evil one.”

Don’t be making any more vows to God. Ok? Ok. Good. I guess we’re done here. Except…

What if you’ve already made a vow to God?

And worse, what if you’ve broken it???? Oh, horror of horrors!

Yeah, that was sarcasm if you missed it. Now just chill out. Seriously.

Erin’s question was, does God withhold blessings when we break vows to Him?

The Reason It’s Probably No

My answer was, “it’s probably a no for you.” But why? I guess we can go back to the Bible. It speaks directly to whether or not God withholds blessings.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
-Psalm 84:11 KJ21

God does not withhold any good thing “from them that walk uprightly.” And what does it take to “walk uprightly”? Or as the NIV states it, “from those whose walk is blameless.”

Walking uprightly or being blameless both come to us the same way. Being forgiven of our sins through the blood of Jesus. If we are in a right relationship with the Lord, He does not withhold good things from us, including blessings.

Which means, even if you made a vow to God (against what Jesus instructed us) and then broke it (clearly a sin) but you’ve since asked forgiveness, you are blameless, because Jesus took your blame upon Himself when He died on the cross for your sins.

Now, if you have NOT asked forgiveness, that’s a different story.

We Can Stop the Blessings of God

God’s grace is available to us at any time during our lives. His grace is for everyone. The invitation to be restored to Him, to have an abundant life with Him, and to spend eternity in Heaven with Him applies to all who are still alive to make the decision to follow Jesus.

“If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved. The scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.” This includes everyone, because there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles; God is the same Lord of all and richly blesses all who call to him. As the scripture says, “Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.”
-Romans 10:9-13 GNT

But if we are not right with God, we only get the general blessings of living as part of God’s creation.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
-Matthew 5:43-45 NIV

People not in a right relationship with God still get good things because God provides many good things in life to all people. But only His children get the full bounty of His blessings.

In Luke 12 Jesus makes it clear that as children of God, we are not to worry about our needs. However, people who don’t have their trust in God chase after clothes, money, and all the other things of this world. Now, God know these and all the other things we need, so Jesus says to us, the children of God:

“But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”
Luke 12:31-32 NIV (Here is a link to Luke 12 so you can see all of the context.)

He is pleased to give us the Kingdom. As children of God, we have the opportunity to receive every blessing He has planned for our lives. But if we are not His children, not only do we miss out on the vast majority of His blessings, we also need to know the true answer to the question, Is Hell Real and Who Goes There?

Bringing It All Together

Let’s close this out with a quick summary.

We should never make a vow or oath to God (Matthew 5:33-37 CSB).
If we do make a vow or oath and we break it, God does not withhold blessings if we are living blamelessly under the forgiveness of Jesus (Psalm 84:11 NIV).
We absolutely CAN block most of God’s blessings and will go to Hell if we are not living rightly with God (John 14:6 NKJV).
God’s forgiveness and salvation are there for us, and all we must do is confess out loud that Jesus is Lord, believe in our hearts God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9-13 GNT).
All the blessings God has planned for our lives are there for us if we will seek His Kingdom above all else (Luke 12:31-32 NIV).

I hope this helps you, if you think it can bring value to others, please share it!

I love you Jesus follower!

-Troy

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