We just completed week 2 of “When It’s Not Your Fault but You Pay the Price,” and what a whirlwind it was! We’ve been working through the story of Jephthah and Jephthah’s unnamed daughter in Judges 11 and 12.
We are begging God for an understanding of Him through the reading, studying and discussing of His word that will encourage us to grow in our faith and to lessen our doubts.
Here are some of the takeaways our group came up with as a result of going through this story:
The true meaning of obedience and how essential it is to a broader understanding of our text
the dynamic of the limited view of our present lives versus the big-picture view of God’s purposes(s) and how we fit into His eternal plan
the importance of the heart, the hopes, and the lamenting of a woman at the end of our text
how some elements of the story of Jephthah’s daughter remind us of Christ
I’d love to continue this discussion and hear how others of you have been impacted by this story!
Thank you, Sherry, for leading the discussion and helping us see another side of trust – and a bigger picture of God.
Very welcome! I love the inexhaustible understanding of our great God.
Sherry,
This has been a wonderful teaching on this story. You brought it to life and made me look deeper. This might have been just another story in the bible, with another unnamed woman who plays a role in God’s teaching. However, just as we think we are just another unnamed woman in this life, God shows us we are not. He loves us, cares for us and we matter. This woman was important enough to be in this story. Her name might not appear, but God knows her! He knows every hair on head! So when we think we don’t matter, REMEMBER we are DAUGHTERS Of THE KING! No better place to belong.
Thanks, Tammy–and that’s an excellent takeaway from this story!
A wonderful job. Super helpful inimnoatfor.
Tammy – I don’t know you but I love your comment. Most of my life passion and ministry is about children without families. So often we see pictures, here stories or just know in our heart that there are hundreds of thousands of lost, hurting, traumatized and in some cases orphaned children in the world. We don’t know their names. But I am always reminded that our God does. He knows them and loves them. I wrote about this on my blog several weeks ago after reading a story in the news about a woman who died in her apartment and no one found her body for a year! a year! She wasn’t missed? No one knew? No one cared? But all that time – God knew and God cared. And he knows us and cares for us too! (PS – just in case you want to read that story – it is here http://bit.ly/1dIGY4a )
Thanks for sharing, Sue. That was an overwhelming story, wasn’t it?
Sue so sad no one missed her. Hard to hear a story like this. We know God knew her. He created her and he loved her. No better love than that of our Father.