Ecclesiastes 5-7: Guard your Steps, Guard your Mouth

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.
As a dream comes when there are many cares,
   so the speech of a fool when there are many words. - Eccl. 5:1-3 NIV

Many of us are too hasty, too forward when it comes to approaching God.  We aren't Moses approaching the burning bush with fear and trembling, or Isaiah who saw the Lord sitting on a throne and all he could say was, 'Woe is me, I am ruined.'.

Now, we approach God as if he was our next-door neighbor, and we are wanting to borrow a cup of sugar.  We have forgotten the awe with which even his own son approached him:  "Our Father, which art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name."  Hallowed!  That means holy, that means lifted up, that means sacred.  There are still those who bow their heads and fold their hands, and even some who fall on their knees before God, but for the most part, we are a generation that approaches God in our pajamas or ragged jeans, throwing out our daily requests as if we were leaving a list for the milkman to leave on his next visit.  And we wonder why our live are as mundane as the way we approach God.  Perhaps if we guarded our steps and guarded our mouths as we approached God, he would guard our ways.

2010 Post - Ecclesiastes 5-7:  Don't Do It