Serving Those Who Hurt You

I'm so glad you are here! I hope during your visit you get a glimpse of God's heart for we become what we are gazing at. I pray that God refreshes you and gives you readiness to persevere in what He has for you today.  My desire is to be a blessing to you in helping you know God more and make Him known so I've made these Resources available to you and have the Missional Living blog tab for practical ideas of how to live on mission right where you are.   

And if you are a blogger come link up a post that glorifies God (gives us a glimpse of His character-which could be a whole lot of things since everything good thing and every gift and ability is from Him) for Brag on God Friday.   

Don't you just love stories! Story helps me feel like I'm there, like I can understand and feel what the people might be going through. That's why I love Judges so much. Story after story of God intersecting lives. So, in bite size pieces I've been writing my way through Judges sharing glimpses of God's heart and character. To check out the entire series so far head on over the the Judges Devotional. 

"Some time later, when the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. "Come," they said, "be our commander, so we can fight the Ammonites." Jephthah said to them, "Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you come to me now, when you're in trouble?" The elders of Gilead said to him, "Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be our head over all who live in Gilead." Jephthah answered, "Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them to me--will I really be your head?" The elders of Gilead replied, "The LORD is our witness; we will certainly do as you say." So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And he repeated all his words before the LORD in Mizpah."
Judges 11:4-11

I imagine you have been hurt by someone, I think we all have. How did you respond? Did you lash out in anger? Did you retreat? Did you respond with maturity and communicate? Perhaps you've done all three of these at some point in different situations.

Being hurt by someone and then the Lord asking you to serve whole-heartedly the person that hurt you is crazy hard. I imagine a task not many follow the Lord into. But Jephthah did, and was commended for his faith in Hebrews 11 around 1,000 years later. Wow! Ok, that blows my mind! This guy is bragged about 1,000 years after he trusted God in this situation. 1,000 years, that is like 30 great grandmas later. This totally bring the faith of the mustard seed parable to light. The tiniest of all mustard seeds yet produces a super resourceful tree that is huge. Jephthah stepped out and trusted the Lord in this tiny little area of being willing to serve the people who rejected him and fruit is still being born today (as we read Heb. 11 and are changed by the Holy Spirit through it) as a result of his little  seed of faith. 

God's way truly is better than our way. His way produces fruit for 1,000 years plus. Our way apart from Christ leads to death. Lets trust Him today. Lets resolve to choose His way even if it means doing something hard or something we don't really want to do.

Lord, You are pretty amazing! Thank you for having the writer of Hebrews mention Jephthah in Hebrews 1,000 years after he died. Thank You for all the perspective and encouragement You give us through Your word. You're awesome!

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I'm linking up with:
A Holy Experience, Good Morning Girls, Women Living Well, My Daily Walk in His Grace,Internet Cafe Devotions, Reflections of His Grace, We Are That Family