Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Mar 24th, 2015 JUST FOR LADIES – By Camille Stahl

Keep Your Word

Today’s Passage – Judges 11 – 13 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers also read – 1 John 1 – 5; Proverbs 24; Psalms 116 – 120)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 51

Read the “0324 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

“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.” (Judges 11:30-31)

This story in our scripture reading always amazed me.  There are so many truths you can glean from it but today I would like to focus on keeping your word, a vow.

Here we have the account of Jephthah, the son of a harlot. The Bible says his mother married Gilead and they had other sons. Now, like in many blended marriages, children will fight over the inheritance left by parents, and this was true of Jephthah’s brothers. So they sent him away. But when times got rough, they sent for him to lead them in battle. Now in verse 30, Jephthah makes a vow (deal or promise) to God, and God kept His end of the deal. Israel defeated the children of Ammon. In verse 31, we read the vow, ‘Whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me … I will offer it up for a burnt offering.’ After the war, he returned home and his only child, his daughter, came dancing in through the door of his home. At the end of Judges 11, we read that Jephthah kept his word that he vowed to the Lord and sacrificed his only beloved daughter to the Lord.

Keeping our word is a lost trait. Nowadays a hand shake just won’t do it. People just don’t keep their word. The Bible calls them fools.

“When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.” (Ecclesiastes  5:4-5)

How often are our children disappointed because of a promise we made to them, and then broke it? I think it’s similar to when we pray to God and He doesn’t answer the way we want Him to. Have you ever lent someone money and they promised to pay you back and didn’t? Maybe you did a job and didn’t get paid what you were supposed to. Keeping our word honors God. After all, He always keeps His.

Let’s try to do our best to keep our word and to show others the love of Christ.

Thank You

John 3:16