Passage Read: Judges 10-13
Meditation Verses: 11:12-15
Thought
History repeats itself. Israel today had reclaimed land that belonged to it long ago, and retook it in response to the attacks of others, not in a deliberate attempt to take former land. The Lord gave it to them and allowed them to succeed in the battle. Then someone else comes along and says to give it back. Jephthah refused and cited recent history, but people today agreed and returned the land. Jephthah protected his people and defended their claim to the land, and God delivered him. Leaders today submitted to public opinion and returned the land, and it hasn't won them favor in the eyes of the world.
Application
While I don't have any claim to any land, nor do I care to. I know God will one day give me an inheritance that no one will be able to take away or argue with me about. But if someone did, I would do better to stand by what God has given me rather than submit to the fickle demands of men. They don't care about truth, or about God. They only care about their own selfish agendas. And often those agendas include the destruction of God's people. I don't need to apologize for what God has given me or promised me. I don't need to please men, but God. Men will call God wrong in order to justify themselves; I need to trust God and can put my confidence in Him and His promises and His ways.