A Cookie Cutter God

A series on the Judges of Israel
 – Jephthah from the tribe of Manasseh in Transjordan
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Judges 10:6-11:33 

[The book of Judges is a roller coaster ride. It’s about the history of Israel following their entry into the Promised Land. Unfortunately, Israel went through cycles of rejecting God and then repenting. Each time, the Lord saved them by raising up a leader who was called a judge. In this series, we will be looking at some of these judges to learn about God’s character as well as our own.]

Every year before Christmas, my wife invites our grandchildren over to bake Christmas cookies. When she started this tradition, she used metal cookie cutters to form the dough into various Christmas images like a tree, a star or an angel. They would make a whole batch of cookies that all looked and tasted exactly the same.

 

However, life isn’t like that. It’s not a cookie cutter pattern. Life takes all kinds of unexpected twists and turns, ups and downs. Here’s a story for you that exemplifies this.

 

⁶ Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all.         NLT

 

What happened next was predictable. The Lord burned with anger and gave Israel over to the Philistines and the Ammonites who oppressed them for eighteen years. Eventually, Israel repented and cried out to the Lord for help. But the Lord said no!

 

¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!”       NLT

 

Finally, the Lord relented when Israel “put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord”. But when the Ammonites prepared for war by gathering their armies together in Gilead, none of the leaders of Gilead wanted to lead the fight against them. Enter Jephthah! But there was a problem!

 

Even though Jephthah was a mighty warrior, his mother was a prostitute. Plus, his father had other sons by his wife. Those half-brothers decided to force Jephthah out of the region of Gilead. Something about not wanting to share the inheritance. As a result, Jephthah was an outcast in a foreign land.

 

Despite this, the elders from Gilead approached Jephthah and asked him to lead their army. They knew his reputation as a mighty warrior. Following some negotiations, they promised with “the Lord as our witness”, that if Jephthah accepted their offer, they would make him the ruler over all the people of Gilead.

 

Being a mighty warrior, you might have expected Jephthah to immediately attack the Ammonite armies. Instead, he sent messengers to negotiate. However, when the king of Ammon rejected Jephthah’s message, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.

 

³² So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory.  NLT

 

Jephthah’s life and faith was anything but a cookie cutter pattern. There were many unexpected twists and turns, ups and downs. But through it all, the Lord was at work.

 

Like Jephthah, the Lord is at work in your life and mine. But He is not a cookie cutter God. Not every person that has faith looks like a tree, a star or an angel. The Lord works in unexpected ways and in ways that we may never understand.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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A Box of Chocolates World

 

Continuing a Series on “Living by Faith”
 (Use the link below to read the verses.)
Judges 11:1-11; 29-33; Hebrews 11:32

[Hebrews 11 is a recounting of the Heroes of the Faith. Each person is commended for living “by faith”. Following these commendations we read, “Therefore, because you are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses… throw off sin; run with perseverance; fix your eyes on Jesus”. In other words, continue to live “by faith”.]

  

Forrest Gump was famous for saying, “My Momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates’. You never know what you’re gonna’ get”.

 

Jephthah faced a life just like that. Historically, the setting was in Canaan, in the region of Gilead. The Israelites had once again, sinned against the Lord by worshipping other gods. As a result, the Lord had given them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites, who oppressed them for eighteen years.

 

It was during this period of history that Jephthah was born into a problematic family. His father was Gilead, the patriarch of the family. But his mother was a prostitute; very possibly a temple prostitute serving a pagan god.

 

Because of his mother, and to keep him from getting any inheritance, Jephthah’s step-brothers drove him out of the house. He had no control over who his parents were, yet he paid a severe price, and became an exile.

 

Rejected, and living in a foreign land, we read that Jephthah “had a band of worthless rebels following him”. He was an outcast without a family, who learned to survive on his own. Eventually, he became known as a mighty warrior.

 

Because of this reputation, when the Ammonites mounted a war against Israel, those same step-brothers, who had spurned him before, came begging for his help. Jephthah was tempted to reject them, like they had done to him. Instead, he listened to God’s call.

 

²⁹ Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites… ³² Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the Lord gave them into his hands.              NIV

 

Like Jephthah, we live in a “box of chocolates” world where you never know what you’re gonna’ get. It can be painful, out of control, hopeless and capricious.

 

But as Christians, we know that our Lord is sovereign; that He has a plan that includes us; that He loves us so much that He sent His only son to die for us; that He is always with us.

 

Indeed, there is a balm in Gilead.