May 11, Day 131 – God’s Promise and His Will
- Dr. Eric Stricker
- May 11
- 3 min read
Happy Mother's Day today! Our readings for today begin with Judges 10-11. In this section, we read about three judges – Tola, who led Israel for twenty-three years, (verses 1-2); Jair, who led Israel for twenty-two years (verses 3-5); and Jephthah, who led Israel for six years (Judges 10:6-12:7). Other than providing the number of years of their service to Israel, Scripture records practically nothing – whether commendable or lamentable – about the accomplishments of Tola or Jair. God introduces us to Jephthah with the same preamble as that for the previous judges – “Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD” (verse 6). However, here we see the seriousness of their idolatry. They “served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines – forsaking the LORD – so He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites who shattered and crushed them” (verses 6-8). God reminded them that their false gods could not save them, and mercifully, He sent these judges to deliver them. Verses 9-18 detail the Israelites’ confession to the Lord. In Judges 11, we see that God raises up Jephthah, “a mighty warrior” with a tarnished background (verses 1-3). The Israelites call upon Jephthah for service, and he agrees. He begins negotiations with the Ammonite king. Interestingly, “the king paid no attention” to Jephthah nor his attempts for peace, so Jephthah makes a rash vow to sacrifice “whatever comes out of the door to meet him” – hoping that God will grant him victory (verse 31). In my view, the account of Jephthah’s daughter is one of the saddest stories in all of Scripture, and it should teach us that our words matter; we should not make foolish vows. I believe God expects us to be people of our word, but I simply can’t imagine how a father could commit such a horrible act against his daughter! This is why our words must be few and carefully selected – always seasoned with the expression, “If the Lord wills …” (cf., James 3-4, especially 4:15).
In Psalm 59:1-8, David cries out to God for deliverance from his enemies and from evildoers. God has recorded this passage in His Word so that we also may follow suit – God wants us to cry out to Him at all times, but especially when we face trouble. I might add that He expects us to maintain a close, family relationship with Him so that when trouble does come, we are not strangers or foreigners to Him. When trouble comes, God delights to help us, but why should He help those who have little or nothing to do with Him when things are going well? Sometimes, even though we’ve done nothing wrong, we experience difficulties at the hands of wicked people who intend to harm us. David refers to them as “snarling dogs” (verse 6). However, God desires to save us, and He wants us to call upon Him. We just saw examples of this in Judges 10-11 – even when the Israelites continuously fell into idol worship. We also see it in John 6 …
In John 6:25-59, after feeding the five thousand (cf., John 6:1-15), Jesus affirms that He came down from heaven at the will of His Father to be “the bread of life” (verse 35). As we said yesterday, people are still hungry for this Bread; it is the only Bread that can satisfy our everlasting hunger, for eternal life rests completely in Him. The connection between bread and the Lord Jesus Christ is so strong in this section that John records the concept thirteen times (verses 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 41, 50, 51, and 58). Moreover, the association with this “bread of life” and “eternal life” is equally powerful – Jesus repeats three times His promise to “raise us up at the last day” (verses 40, 44, and 54). This is God’s promise and His will.
Comments