Judges 10-12 / April 2 (Day 93)

Why the continuous cycle of falling away from the LORD then coming back to Him? When things were good, they drifted to the gods of the surrounding people because those gods were more “attractive” to their fleshly desires. When they were oppressed by the people around them, they knew there was only one God who could save them.

Judges 11 – Jephthah
Here is a good example that not every child is planed or wanted by people, but every child is planed and wanted by God. Not only did God give Jephthah a gift to fight, his word’s to the king of Ammon show he was well spoken also. In His grace, the LORD put His Spirit on Jephthah (vs. 29), but the “root of rejection” caused him to make a foolish vow (vs. 30). There was nothing Jephthah could give to God to buy a victory, but the rejection he had faced since before birth caused him to feel otherwise. Jephthah hadn’t learned to accept unconditional love; he only felt “acceptance” based on his performance.

A note about his vow: He probably didn’t give his daughter as a sacrifice in death; she probably lived unmarried her entire life (as a sacrifice to God).