Daily Devotional
Judges 11:30-31 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.
We sometimes make conditional promises to God by telling him that if He does something that we really want to happen, we will respond by doing something that would bring Him pleasure. In cases like these, when God keeps His end of the bargain, how diligent are you in ensuring that you follow through in fulfilling your vow to God? My personal response to that question would be, not diligent enough and that must change. If God fulfills his end of the bargain, so should we.
Jephthah was very serious about fulfilling the vow he made to God in Judges 11:30-31. Because he was a great fighter, he was asked to lead the Israelites into battle against the Ammonites. Prior to going into the battle Jephthah made a vow to God that if He delivered the Children of Ammon into his hands, he would offer whatever came first out of his house, to meet him, as a burnt offering when he returned from the battle. God fulfilled his end of the deal by delivering the Ammonites into his hand and when he returned to his house in Mizpeh, his daughter who was his only child was the person that came out to meet him with timbrel and dance. It was a sad situation; his only child would have to be sacrificed; not many of us could have brought ourselves to fulfill that promise. The sacrifice would have been too great. Regardless of how difficult it was for Jephthah to offer his daughter as a burnt offering to God, he would not renege on the vow that he made to God. He was determined to follow through at all costs and so he made an agreement with his daughter to wait two (2) months before doing it.
There are two lessons that we should learn from Jephthah’s experience. Firstly, it teaches us that we must always give careful thought to any promise that we make to God. The second thing that we must learn is that when we make a vow to God, we do whatever it takes to keep it at all costs.
Life Application: Fulfill your vows to God by giving careful consideration to the promises that you make and follow through on your promise regardless of the price that you have to pay.
Prayer: Lord, many times I have made vows to you that I am yet to fulfill when you have done exactly what I asked for. Please forgive me. May I always honor my vow to you at all times. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Daily Devotional 
Leave a Reply