Week 17 Day 4 Promises, Promises

• Judges 10-12

I know, I know, I had a short (well, compared to years, months would be short :) hiatus. I am not sure what happened. Life. But I am not making excuses. At one point I actually considered just quitting; I have already failed big time in doing this. But then I decided that would be failing God. It is a lot like my relationship with Him. Sometimes I am right there with Him, walking hand in hand. Other times I have walked away on my own path, not always intentionally, but it happens. Thankfully when I call to Him, he appears and brings me back home.

We are trying something new with the bigger kids...a family quiet time (after little ones are in bed...they don't know how to be quiet :). We are all reading different parts of the Bible, but we hope it will be a good reading time and prayer time together. We are faithful to pray with the little ones but we have gotten lax with the big kids in that area. We will see how it goes.

Anyway, Judges 10-12.

I read it back in January but never posted. So last night I re-read it. Here are a few things that stuck out to me:

• The Israelites went through a lot of judges! Just in these chapters alone, at least six judges ruled.
• Again, the Israelites suffered after the turned away from God. And again, after it got bad, they turned back to God, begging for His help. At first God said, "No way, you are worshiping other Gods!" But the Israelites, at least temporarily, felt really remorseful. They didn't just say they were sorry. They acted upon it. They actually threw away their idols and turned back to God. And again, He listened to them and sent an answer to their prayer.
• The answer came in the form of a man named Jephthah. I love how God uses the unlikely. Here is a man who had lots of brothers. But because Jephthah was a result of a relationship between his father and a prostitute, his brothers turned their backs on him. In fact, they forced him out of their home. Yet when the Ammonites came to fight against Israel, who did they turn to? Jephthah.
  
• One of the more well known stories about Jephthah is about his promise. He made a promise to God that whatever greeted him first from his front door (pending a victory), he would offer as a burnt sacrifice. I am not sure what his thought process was in making that promise. I mean, did he expect a little lamb to come running out the door? A goat? I guess he surely wasn't thinking it would be his one and only precious daughter. I have heard different things about this promise. It says he kept his promise. Did he really offer her as a burnt offering? Or did she just not marry? (I have read both theories) I guess I will never know. I do admire the daughter though who didn't throw a fit. Didn't say, "How could you?" She respected her dad and his promise; she just asked for some time with girlfriends to mourn whatever was to come.
  

Well, that is all for today. I will be back tomorrow. In fact, I have already read the next reading (Judges 13). So I have no excuse!

Reba