Fri.’s Devo - Prepare Your Hearts

Read: Judges 11:1-12:15; John 1:1-28: Psalm 101:1-8: Proverbs 14:13-14 The armies of Ammon had gathered for war against the people of Gilead. Gilead had a great warrior born in Gilead named Jephthah. He was the son of Gilead but his mother was a prostitute so he had been rejected by the people and fled to live in the land of Tob. He had a following of other outcast warriors. The elders of Gilead sent for him to lead them in their attack. Jephthah gave them a hard time since they had rejected him before. They offered him the rulership. This sounds just like they treated God. They only repented and came to him when they got themselves into so much trouble that they had to have a deliverer. Jephthah agreed to help them. He sent a message to the attacking king of Ammon asking him why he was attacking. His answer was that he was trying to reclaim land the Israelites had stolen from his people long ago when they came out of Egypt. Jephthah told him the truth of why the Israelites now had the land. The Israelites had asked their king to pass through their land and he refused, so the Lord gave them the land. They had been living in the land for 300 years and the Ammonites had never tried to retrieve the land before. Why now? The king had no answer to that. Jephthah then went throughout the land of Manasseh gathering an army. He made a vow that if the Lord gave them the victory, he would sacrifice to God the first thing that came out of his house. He expected an animal to come out. The Lord did give them victory and when he returned home, the first thing that came out of his house was his only child, a young daughter. He was distraught, but she comforted him. She asked to have a few months to go into the mountains with her friends and mourn the fact that she would never have children then she came back and willingly laid her life down. Sounds like Jesus. While Jephthah was mourning having to kill his own daughter, the men of Ephraim come to him to pick a fight. They are sore became Jephthah didn’t invite them to fight the Ammonites. They threatened to burn down Jephthah’s house. He disputed with them that he did ask them to come but they refused, so he had to risk his life and do it himself. They wanted the credit now that he had won, but hadn’t been willing to risk their lives before. The people of Ephraim responded unfriendly so Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and attacked the men of Ephraim and won. Jephthah captured the land where they would cross the Jordan to get to the west. When anyone wanted to cross they would make them say the word “Shibboleth.” If they pronounced it “Sibboleth,” they would kill them. The people of Ephraim had a speech impediment and couldn’t say their “sh’s.” They ended up killing 42,000 Ephraimites. Jephthah reigned for only 6 years and died. After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. He had 30 sons and 30 daughters of which he sent them all to marry outside of their clan. Their clan didn’t mean outside of their tribe; clans were families. He judged for 7 years and was buried in Bethlehem. The next judge was Elon from the tribe of Zebulun who judged for 10 years. When he died Abdon judged Israel from the tribe of Ephraim. He judge Israel 8 years and died. John takes us back to the beginning of time to tell us that Jesus was with God when he created the world and that God did it through him. Jesus was the Word that gave life to all to all God created. When he came back to live in the very world he had created, no one recognized him or accepted him. But to the ones who did, he gave the right to become reborn as the children of God. John reminded him of what he had told them about a man who would come after him who was far greater than him because he existed long before him. Jesus came to reveal the heart of God to us. When the Jewish leaders questioned John if he was the Messiah, he told them he was not. He asked him if he was the Prophet that had been prophesied would come or if he was Isaiah that was prophesied would come. He told them that he was none of those but he was just a voice to make clear the coming of the Lord. They then wanted to know how he had the authority to baptize and he said that he was only baptizing with water, but there was a person they didn’t recognize yet and he was much more powerful than him. Lord, may we prepare our hearts and help prepare others for the coming of the Lord.