Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

I'm going to read Judges chapter 11, verses 30 and 31, and then verse 34.

So first, verses 30 and 31, and Jehptha made a vow to the Lord and said,

if you will give the ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to

meet me when I return in peace from the ammonites shall be the lords. And I will offer

it up for a burnt offering. So let's just pause there. What Jehptha just did was wrong. You don't

make deals with God. You obey God and trust God, period. You don't say, if you do this, I'll do

that. So this was not right before God. And we must guard in our own lives against this

tendency to say, well, God, if you do this, I'll do this. That's not a heart of trust in God,

of love for God, of obedience to God, no matter what. So there are examples of this in Judges.

Think about Gideon. So many times people say, well, I'm going to put out a fleece and I'm going

to ask God, if he wants me to do this, do that. Like, these are not examples for us to follow

in this way. We don't bargain with God. We don't cut deals with God. We obey God, we trust God.

We love God with all our hearts. We do whatever he says without question. And so that's the first

thing, Jehptha did wrong, but now verse 34. So he had just said, if you will give the ammonites into

my hand, when I return, then whatever comes out of my house, I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

So verse 34 says, then Jehptha came to his home at Misbah and behold, his daughter came out to

meet him with tambourines and with dances. She was his only child. Besides her, he had neither son

nor daughter. And the rest of the chakra goes on to describe how Jehptha did what he had said he

would do. And he offered up his own daughter for a burnt offering, which was obviously sin

and evil. And someone might say, well, that's what he said he would do. He was just keeping his word.

One evil act doesn't justify a second evil act. We don't think, well, I promise to do something

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