Verse of the day: Judges 11:23-24, And now the LORD God of Israel has dispossessed the Amorites from before His people Israel; should you then possess it? 24 Will you not possess whatever Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So whatever the LORD our God takes possession of before us, we will possess.
Jephthah, now representing Israel as their judge, sends a message to the Ammonites, and essentially tells them, in few words, that the land that Israel now possesses belongs to them because God gave it to them. Although the Ammonites possessed the land and lost it to the Amorites, and in turn, God gave it to Israel, the Ammonites now see themselves as strong enough to take it from Israel. Jephthah, although ready to fight against them, first tries to reason with them. Therefore, when challenged, we too must first turn to reason as a way of resolving issues with other, and especially amongst our brothers and sisters in Christ. The best way to resolve conflict is to follow the command given in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” The one thing that will enable us to do that is to remember that the majority of the battles we fight are not our battles to fight. Most of the challenges in our lives, if we are doing our best to live for the Lord, are going to be spiritual battles that belong to God. We are reminded of this in Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Far too often, when challenged or offended, we immediately respond in anger, in complete opposition to God’s command in James 1:19-20, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” We quickly forget that regardless of who stands against us, or who challenges us, if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31) Jephthah had no doubt that the Ammonites’ heathen god Chemosh was no match for the one true God. When God parted the Red Sea in the Book of Exodus, Moses sang a song on the other side and put it beautifully when he sang these words in Exodus 15:11, “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” I say we ponder that today as we face the challenges in our lives today, “Who is like the Lord in our lives?” I will give you the answer, “No one!” As born again Christians, whatever we face today and whatever schemes the devils come up with to try and trip us up or put fear in our lives, remember what the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:4, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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