Man's Sin and God's Plan

Intro

God’s plans will always come to pass God’s plan will never falter nor fail and we are called to line ourselves up with the will of God by coming to Him in prayer. But The problem is we sometimes campaign more for our own emotions then for the will of God. We often tend to make impulsive decisions based on our own emotion rather then first seeking the will of God and lining ourselves up with God. We are going to see someone in the book of Judges who did this and faced the consequences.

Imagine a young man named David who desperately wanted a job promotion. He prayed, “God, if you give me this promotion, I promise I’ll donate half my salary to the church.” A week later, he got the promotion, but as his paycheck grew, so did his hesitation. Suddenly, giving away half his income seemed too extreme. He tried to adjust his promise—maybe just 10% would be enough? His rash vow became a burden, and he regretted making it in the first place.

Does he hold to his vow that he made based on his own emotion rather then seeking the will of God? I do not know and do not have an answer for that but we see stuff like this all the time, at least in movies. people praying to God that if He gets them out of their current situation and they will devote their lives to Him. John Newton, the former slave trader who wrote "Amazing Grace," found himself in a deadly storm at sea in 1748. He prayed, "Lord, if You save me, I will serve You." The storm passed, and Newton followed through, eventually leaving the slave trade, becoming a minister, and advocating for abolition.

Like Jephthah, David made a deal with God instead of trusting Him. Jephthah’s vow was an attempt to secure God’s favor, but God had already chosen to use him. He didn’t need a bargain; he needed faith, He needed to Give His l;ife to God in obedience. His impulsive words led to heartbreak,

HBI - When God’s people compromise with the world, they suffer the consequences, but God remains merciful and uses even flawed individuals for His purposes. Knowing this we should line ourselves up with the will of God and allow Him to use us for His glory before we compromise our faith.

God’s Anger - Judges 10:1-18

It seems like I repeat myself a lot in this series. Again we start out with the sin cycle started all over again. verses 1-5 tell us a little of a judge that we do not know much about. 2 judges that ruled for a total of close to 50 years. They most have been just average, we do not know much about them.

we go on to verse 6. God was angry with them because they where worshiping the same idols, the gods of the ammonites and the philistines. The bible tells us that the Lord was angry at how they where living and allowed them to be given to the Amonites and the and the Philistines.

We sew this as a way that God allowed the people to face the consequences of their actions. Man has free will. We all have the ability to choose to follow God or not. And though this was no surprise to God He allowed them to reap the consequences of what they had done. For 18 years this was going on.

This next account I find a little hard to comprehend. They cried out to God like they had always done in generations past. Like they had always done they admitted to abandoning God and following the idols of the nations around them. It would seem though that their repentance was more due to their own situation that they had gotten themselves into rather then actually being sorry for their sins.

God reminded them that they had been rescued many times before and they kept going back to their old way of life. They never lived for God for very long. We sometimes vow to serve God if he but rescues us but often it results in the same thing that we see here. When times get better our vows are forgotten and we turn back to our old life.

Judges 10:15–16 CSB

15 But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal with us as you see fit; only rescue us today!” 16 So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped the Lord, and he became weary of Israel’s misery.

Through all this it seems like the putting away of foreign god’s has become common practice for them. The wording here is that God had lost his patience with them. The imagery used here seems to Anthropomorphize God. It says He essentially became exasperated with their misery

We have been talking lately about the sovereignty of God and what that means. It us a word that we use often but do we know what it really means? We speak of a sovereign God and yet the bible is clear that we have free will and God sometimes gives us up to the consequences of our choices.

God’s Sovereignty

God continually brings about everything in the universe according to His will. God will accomplish His will and His plan. God will not do anything that will contradict His character.

Our God is in control, His plan will come to Pass, He is all knowing, all powerful. This is but a glimpse into the.

But God’s plan does not force us to act. We are free to follow God and His will or not. That is what a relationship with God does though, is line our lives up with the will and the plan of God. God’s sovereignty and our free will are both true and they both happen. We see that here. It seems that God changes His mind but if we believe in God knowing all things from beginning to end it is true then that somehow God works within our free will. This is important to remember for it is a comfort to know that though we have free will God’s plan is rendered as certain and we cant mess it up but we are told to line ourselves up with the will of God to be a part of His plan.

Israel was told to do this. But before we get into how this should apply to our lives we move on to the next chunk of today's passage.

Jephthah of Gilead - 11:1-5

We are introduced to Jephthah of Gilead. And no that is not a LOTR reference. Gilead is a place in Israel where originally the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the eastern half of Manasseh dwelt. Now we assume that Gilead is used as a placeholder for an unknown father. You see the Mother of Jepthath was a prostitute and likely the dad was never known.

His mom then would have known many men and he had brothers, quite an interesting family dynamic. He was chased out of the clan and he ran and started to hang out with the wrong people, reckless men it says.

Jephthah the Commander - 11:6-11

he had become a valiant warrior with all of his raiding it would appear because His old clan came to him and asked him to lead their army. Didn't you hate me he asked? and drive me out of your fathers home? Kind sounds familiar. They cried out to God and he essentially told them the same thing, didn't you guys drive me out after all I had done for you.

Their answer was similar, yes we drove you out but now that we need you we want you back. He said if i go against the Ammonites and they fall at my nd then the Lord has given them to me and I will lead you. Theyu agreed.

The Vow - 11:12-40

To His credit, Jephthah first tried for peace. The dispute seemed to be over land it appeared. It would appear that a long time ago Israel just wanted safe passage through the land but they wouldnt give it to them, instead the rose up against the Israelite's and God handed them into the Israelite's hands.

His argument was Judges 11:24

Judges 11:24 CSB

24 Isn’t it true that you can have whatever your god Chemosh conquers for you, and we can have whatever the Lord our God conquers for us?

He said I leave it up to God, if you come against us He will decide the victor here today.

God was with Him, God seemed to have called him and it would appear He knew it by what He was saying. But that was not enough. His desire to defeat them was so intense that he made a special vow to God saying that if he buts wins tha battle for them that he would sacrifice the first person that came out of his house on the safe return from battle.

There is the vow. Though intended as an act of devotion what it shows is a lack of faith. For one human sacrifice was strictly forbidden but it was something that the nations ironically nations like the Ammonites practiced. So then in a sense He is saying God if you give them into my hands then I will show devotion to their gods.

He won over the Ammonites and the first person to walk out was his young daughter. He stayed true to the vow he made and mourned the loss of his unmarried daughter.

God does not like the breaking of vows, but also he murder is a sin as well.

Jephthah is as flawed as anyone of us and God still used him and yet he still messed up. God remains merciful and will use us for His glory when we come to him but how often are we campaigning for our own emotions.

I was thinking of the struggle between the sovereignty of God as we described earlier and our free will. God allows us to make choices and holds us accountable for our choices that we make.

But at the same time God’s plan will come to pass. Our job is to seek God and His will. As Jesus taught his disciples, we need to pray for God’s will first to be done in our own lives. Then we need to ask whether we are seeking our will our God’s will for our lives.

But rather we sometimes seek to try and emotionally manipulate God for our own needs and our own ends. But God will not be manipulated for our wants and greed. If we are able to manipulate God then He stops being God. He does not do our bidding.

Judges/Ruth, Revised Edition The Divine Level

There comes a point at which God does not answer prayers—prayers that at their very roots are manipulative. It may appear as though God answered Jephthah’s prayer by giving him victory over the Ammonites (certainly Jephthah thought so). But Yahweh gave the victory because, as Judge of all the earth, he defended his people and brought defeat on the Ammonite king. As outlined above, Jephthah’s prayer/vow was utterly unnecessary

Bargaining with God or trusting in His grace. Yet God is still faithful to forgive when we mess up like this. We are rather to rely on the grace of God then do like what Jephthah did and make vows and bargain.

Once we remember who God is and that His plans are sure.

Psalm 33:11 CSB

11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation.

Proverbs 19:21 CSB

21 Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the Lord’s decree will prevail.

Romans 8:28 CSB

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

I could show more scripture to show that the plans of God are sure, they will not be thwarted and the work together for what God knows is our Good if we follow Him. God’s plan is set and we can not mess it up. But He invites us to come alongside Him and be used for His glory. To be a part of what He is doing. Vows he does not need but a willing and contrite heart.

So What?

HBI - When God’s people compromise with the world, they suffer the consequences, but God remains merciful and uses even flawed individuals for His purposes. Knowing this we should line ourselves up with the will of God and allow Him to use us for His glory before we compromise our faith.

Mankind has a habit of compromise, which in itself is not a bad thing. But when we compromise with the world we start to fail. We see again and again that the Israelites seem to turn to God out of despair for what they had gotten themselves into rather then in true repentance. We sometimes do the same thing as well. to help us understand how we are to live we should be reminded again and again that

We serve an all powerful God.

God’s excersize of power over his creation is what we call His Sovereignty. God is able to do all His Holy will and His plans will always come to pass. This is important to understand, It should give us peace and hope knowing that though we make mistakes the plans of the Lord are sure.

yet we do not know the will of God. That is why we are told to pray for God’s will to come. We bow on our knees in prayer because we do not know, we do not understand so we cry out to God and say I do not know what you want me to do, but I pray that my life will honor and glorify you in all the things that I do.

Yet in spite of this

God gives us the choice to come alongside His divine Plan.

Isn't it amazing to know that we have the choice to come alongside God and follow His will. That is part of what we are doing when we pray, seeking the will of God for His glory. We have no need for vows and oaths trying to implore God to do what we want but rather in spite of what is going on following God in Humility. When we make vows like this it is saying to God that I want you to meet me on my terms when God is telling us to come before him in humility even though we do not understand exactly.

Our commitments need to align with God’s will rather then us trying to align ourselves with the world.

Judges/Ruth, Revised Edition The Divine Level

Beside the fact that God may be doing something in our lives beyond our understanding in this world during our lifetime (cf. Job’s experience), it may be that we are hiding a personal manipulative motive in our prayer. Until we recognize that God is not obligated by our actions to do anything on our behalf, until we recognize that whatever he does is on the basis of his grace—that is, we don’t deserve it—we will experience frustrations in our relationship to him. We do not worship him because of what we can get out of him, but because he is our God!