the Third Week after Easter
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 2 of 5
Judges 11:23-40
Jephthah thinks he has to pay the LORD for his victory over the children of Ammon by making a sacrifice. How little he knows God! God is glad to bless His own and expects in response only love from them. He saves freely.
Notice the folly of the promise which Jephthah makes. God sometimes allows us also to bear responsibility for things which we have decided on impulse. Let us keep a close watch on what we say, for promises made lightly can have serious consequences (Proverbs 20:25).
If Jephthah’s faith had been lacking for a moment, it now shines forth in his daughter. She is "his only child", much loved by her father and her submission makes us think of the Lord Jesus’ submission (John 8:29). She does not hold her own life in high esteem and rejoices in the victory which the LORD has given to Israel. She is obedient even to death for love of the LORD, her father and her people. In this she is a touching picture of Christ even though she falls very far short of Him whom she represents.
If Jephthah’s daughter deserved to be honoured year by year, our Lord Jesus is infinitely more worthy of being exalted now and for all eternity.
