Today’s Reading: Judges 10-11, Psalm 123

More judges came and went for the people of God – Tola judged for 23 years and Jair for the next 22 years. Jair had 30 sons who rode 30 donkeys and owned 30 towns. Again the people did evil in the eyes of the Lord and he turned them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites, who oppressed the Israelites who lived east of the Jordan River for the next 18 years. The Ammonites crossed the river and began attacking Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim as well (10:1-9). Once more God’s people cried out to the Lord for help, confessing their sin against God.

Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy, for we have had our fill of contempt. – Psalm 123:3

It took 18 years of oppression for God’s people to FINALLY cry out to the Lord for help. But the hearts of the Israelites were stubborn, and they were slow to repent to the God who had rescued them out of slavery in Egypt. FINALLY God’s people let go of their need to do their own thing and cried out to God.

The Lord replied, “Did I not rescue you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites? When they oppressed you, you cried out to me for help, and I rescued you. Yet you have abandoned me and served other gods. So I will not rescue you anymore. Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!”

But the Israelites pleaded with the Lord and said, “We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit, only rescue us today from our enemies.” Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord. And he was grieved by their misery. – Judges 10:11-16

God’s people were ready to suffer the consequences of their sin, which is exactly what they had been experiencing for the last 18 years. When we decide we no longer want God to have authority over our lives and begin letting worldly pleasures have our full attention, there are natural consequences. Those things that pulled us away from our right relationship with God become the objects of our suffering.

BUT THE FOCUS OF THIS PASSAGE IS LESS ON THE PUNISHMENT THEY DESERVED AND MORE ON THE COMPASSION THEY RECEIVED.

We see the heart of God when we read that He was grieved by the misery of His children. God had mercy on them — He had compassion on those who deserved the punishment He had the authority to dispense, and He forgave His people once again. This is the perfect definition of mercy, to choose forgiveness and compassion even when such actions are undeserved. We see this mercy on display in the life of the next judge, Jephthah.

Now Jephthah of Gilead was a great warrior. He was the son of Gilead, but his mother was a prostitute. Gilead’s wife also had several sons, and when these half brothers grew up, they chased Jephthah off the land. “You will not get any of our father’s inheritance,” they said, “for you are the son of a prostitute.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Soon he had a band of worthless rebels following him. – Judges 11:1-3

Jephthah was rejected by his brothers because his mother was a prostitute. As far as they were concerned, his birth story would always be about the sins of his parents rather than about the legitimate love of a husband and wife. They wanted nothing to do with their half-brother, so Jephthah left and soon had a new “family” — a group of men seen as worthless misfits became a band of brothers. But when the Ammonites began a war against the Israelites, it was Jephthah that they called to rescue them.

But Jephthah said to them, “Aren’t you the ones who hated me and drove me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now when you’re in trouble?”
“Because we need you,” the elders replied. “If you lead us in battle against the Ammonites, we will make you ruler over all the people of Gilead.” – Judges 11:7-8

So Jephthah and the king of Ammon began to communicate back and forth through messengers. The Ammonites believed that the land was rightfully theirs because the Israelites had taken it from their forefathers. Jephthah reminded the king of how the land became Israel’s when King Sihon of the Amorites attacked them. The God of Israel gave His people victory in a battle they did not begin, a battle God finished for them. In the same way, it would be up to God to decide who would win today’s battle.

You keep whatever your god Chemosh gives you, and we will keep whatever the Lord our God gives us. – Judges 11:24

So God used Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, to rescue the people of Israel when they cried out in misery. Jephthah was a GREAT WARRIOR because God chose to use him to give His people victory over their enemies.

Who are we to determine the worth of one of God’s children based on the sins of their parents or the sins of their past? Who are we to say this person has value and this person does not. If God can choose the son of a prostitute out of all the men in all the tribes of Israel, then God can choose to use any of us. It’s time to shake off the identity that others have placed on you and see your identity in Christ Jesus, who loves you enough to die for you, and who sees you as someone created to do wonderful things for Him.

NO MATTER WHAT IS IN YOUR STORY, THE GOD OF MERCY CAN USE YOU TO AMAZING THINGS IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS.

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. – Psalm 68:5-6