Thursday Morning

I stumbled out of bed and made my way to church. It was the same ole routine…just like every day…until we got to the first reading. It was from the book of Judges 11:29-39. I don’t recall ever hearing the story of Jephthah and his vow to the Lord.
"If you deliver the Ammonites into my power," he said,
"whoever comes out of the doors of my house
to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites
shall belong to the LORD.
I shall offer him up as a burnt offering."
Now, I’m thinking, surely he didn’t think that one through. Who did he believe he would meet when he returned home? Maybe, his wife? His child? Some pizza delivery guy? Come on. I can see the writing on the wall, I know where this story is going.
Admittedly there have been times in my marriage when I’ve thought the wife would make a good “burnt offering”. But really, this is all too hard to believe. And, don’t you know it, it’s his daughter that comes out of the house dancing and playing the tambourine, his only daughter, his only child. It’s just too bazaar, how could he have done that?
But then I think how God sacrificed his only Son on the cross. Maybe, I’ve just heard that story so many times that it doesn’t carry the shock value. Besides, that “salvation thing” works for me. I can’t imagine what God and his Son must have gone through, but I am sooooo…. thankful that God loves me that much. It’s mind-boggling, it’s hard to believe but I am going with it. All other options just don’t get the job done.

Thank you, Father God
Thank you, Jesus Christ, Son of God
Thank you Holy Spirit…for the wisdom to not “over-think” this unbelievable awesome salvation truth.
Amen