Jephthah couldn’t stop his brothers from “thrusting him out,” but he could stop them from controlling what he did with his life after that.
You may not be able to stop people from cursing you, mistreating you or lying about you, but you can keep them from making you bitter.
Almost everyone feels they have some “uncontrollable limitation” that is holding them back. Jephthah’s was his parentage. You had no choice about your parents, race, color, gender, height, looks, etc etc. But you do have a choice about how you deal with those things.
You also have a choice about how you respond to the people who “thrust you out.” How easy it is to try to take vengeance into your own hands. But your vengeance may be too much, or the wrong kind, or too soon, or too little, or the wrong way. God knows how others have mistreated you and God will correct your injustices if you’ll let Him.
God had a great victory for Jephthah, but it only came after he forgave his brothers and got victory over himself.
Running time: 50 minutes
