THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, "If thou wilt indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then it shall be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, I will offer it up as a burnt offering......When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, behold, his daughter was coming out to meet him with tambourines and with dancing. (Judges 11:30,34)
Have you ever made a promise to God that you regretted? Perhaps you told God that you would stop using profanity if God would heal your body. Or maybe you would would start tithing if God would bless you to have a new car. When God gave you what you asked for, you realized how difficult it would be for you to carry out your promise.
In order to get God's blessing in defeating the Ammonites, Jephthar made the promise to sacrifice who, or whatever came came out of the doors of his house when he returned from the battle. The problem was, he did not realize that his daughter would be that person. He was forced to carry out his promise.
Jephthars desire to succeed caused him to be reckless in his petition to God. We can learn from Jephthar's mistake. Be careful what we ask God for. And be careful what we promise Him in return. The Bible does cite times when vows were made in the past. The Apostle Paul made a vow to God in Acts 18:8. But be very careful when we make vows (promises) to God. God knows our hearts. We should not promise that which we cannot keep. We should always tell God that we will try to live up to His standards for our lives. If we try and fail, at least God is merciful and just to give us another chance.
Don't bargain with God. If we have needs, just ask God for His blessings. He will take care of us. As far as our behavior is concerned, we should always try to do what is right at all times. It is not necessary to bargain with God when we already have a duty to serve Him.
Jephthar made a tremendous sacrifice in offering his daughter. The good news for us, is that the "ultimate sacrifice" has already been made on our behalf. Jesus died on Calvary as a sacrifice for our sins. For that reason, we don't have to make promises that we cannot keep to get God to bless us. We just need to live right because that ultimate sacrifice has already been made.
