You Did Not

And Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a great struggle with the people of Ammon; and when I called you, you did not deliver me out of their hands.  Judges 12:2

With just this verse, we might think that Jephthah was accusing God of this betrayal. Jephthah was in the scripture speaking to men of another tribe, but we may do well to examine why it is we should think such a thing before we get the rest of the story. 

We surrender our lives to Jesus, and then comes that prayer that states some version of, "Why didn't You do what I wanted You to do, Lord?" Surrender means that we accept whatever answer the Lord gives to our prayers in any situation, and yet we don't always like the answer and so we roll out the old doubt and lack of faith. We probably do have some unwelcome assistance in that regard from the Enemy, but that does not make it any less our fault. "I wanted this and You did not, God," is not a very surrendered thing to say. 

If you have never done such a thing, good for you! Skip this and go to work. As for me, I must confess to doing the very thing in some form or another, even if only in a feeling of disappointment in the Lord for not giving me that thing I wanted. The new spirit within me wants to replace the accusation of 'You did not' with "I trust in You," but there are times when that old reaction comes first. Praise God that He will complete His good work in me and one day, along with you and all of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will only know the new spirit within us saying, "glory to God in the highest!" 

The Christmas celebration is close now!

Bucky