Making Promises to God
‘And Jephtah made a vow to the Lord : “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord ’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”
Judges 11:30-31
Have you ever bartered with God?
I know that I have in the past.
“God if you protect me from this situation I will stop cursing.”
“God if you save me from this I will go to church every Sunday for the rest of my life.”
“God if you help me win this one argument with my wife I promise to pray every day, earnestly”
Bartering with God is exactly what Jephthah did. He told God that if he allowed him to win, when he got home whatever came out to meet him he would sacrifice to God.
I’m sure that he was thinking some animal would come from the village to greet him.
But that’s not what happened.
His daughter came dancing out to the sound of timbrels (music) to greet him. Judges 11:34
The difference between Jephthah and most of today is that he followed through with his word.
He told his daughter about the “bartering” he did with God, and she asked him if she could go to the mountains with her friends for 2 months to mourn for her own death with them.
I know that this truth might be hard to think about.
As a father, it wouldn’t matter how many children I have. It would be an impossible task to sacrifice one.
Especially because of a deal I had made.
God doesn’t want to make deals with him, he wants us to trust that he is looking out for what is best for us.
‘But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; Matthew 5:34
‘And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:36-37
As humans we want to give something in order to get what we want.
God doesn’t work that way. He just wants us to live a godly life and in return he blesses us beyond belief.
The best thing that we can do is trust Gods’ plan and know that he has our backs, no matter what we think.
Here is what I want to encourage everyone to do today.
When you are between a rock and a hard place in life next time, don’t barter with God. “Lord, if you save me, I will stop drinking!”
Instead pray this prayer:
“God, thank you for the opportunity to look to you for advice. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
Take a page from Jesus’s book from a time when he was facing his own sacrifice.
Prayer
Lord, God Almighty Father of heaven and earth, Thank you! Thank you for the lessons that you give us throughout your word. God, you have an amazing way of teaching us, even when we don’t really want to learn. You gave us such great examples to learn from. Jesus being the best example of how to act, forgive, and love! God we are grateful that you haven’t held us to the bartering that we have made in the past. We do ask that you help open our eyes, open our ears, and close our mouths when we are in a “tight” spot. Help us to hear you, to see your way, to follow you because you always have our best interest at heart. God, you are amazing. God, we are so grateful for everything you give unto us. Lord, we do pray that you help us be closer to you. Help us to know that you are here for us, in every situation. Help us to lean on you harder every day. God thank you for everything that you do for us! Help us to do MORE for you, and in your name.
Amen
Will you pray with us?
For mankind throughout the world throughout our current situation
For all Law enforcement and emergency response personnel
For all military personal serving our country and their families
For those in Leadership positions throughout the world
Prayer
Lord, today we come to you with HAPPY hearts. We are so grateful that you give us the opportunity to change the lives of those around us. We are grateful that you give us the wisdom to change our lives and the lives of those around us. And you make it so simple. We can do it with a single smile. God today I would ask that you help us to smile more. The next time we see someone down, help us to smile for them. The next time we are down, help us to remember that you gave us the best gift ever. The ability to know you, your son, and the holy spirit. God, we are so grateful for everything you give us.
We ask all these things in your Precious Son's Name
Amen
A Little More
The other day I got a call from one of our clients.
I love talking to our clients so I always smile when I answer the phone.
“Hey Dan, one of my drivers is pulled over and they are saying that our permit doesn’t cover what we weigh. Isn’t that why we hire your team to make sure that these things don’t happen!”
My smile immediately vanished.
I was shocked because my team is amazing. and it’s not like them to miss something like 20,000 lbs on a permit.
So, I asked him, “Who have you been working with, and who was the one who called our team to get the permit?”
To get to the bottom of the problem I needed the details.
They gave me the details.
My next call was to my team. Then after I got the details I got them started on getting new permits to get the problem fixed. I’m a solutions guy, not an excuses guy.
But I NEED to know the real reason why it happened so that we can fix the issue.
My next call was to the driver so that I could see exactly what happened.
I knew he was going to be upset. He was pulled over and they were going to give him a HUGE ticket. I wouldn’t be happy either.
so……
I made sure not to smile when I made the call. I had a serious look on my face. As we chatted I learned that he was the person who gave his weight to our team. I asked where he got the weights from and how in the world they were off by over 20K lbs!
That’s when he told me that he might have gotten the wrong scale ticket from the weigh station where he originally weighed.
Immediately my heart leapt with joy, this is NOT our fault!
Now to get the problem resolved and get this driver back on the road was my only goal. I was not going to assign blame or make anyone feel bad.
Hey, we all make mistakes. I do it multiple times every single day.
The owner of the company shot me a text. I'm getting permits from the big guys. They won’t make these mistakes that cost me time and $$$$$.
No problem. Let me know if you need anything. We are here to help.
Well……..
After they called the “BIG Guys” they called me about 30 minutes later.
Hey, we can’t get an Idaho permit until Monday. It’s Friday night. And we need to drop this load off tomorrow afternoon.
I told him that I would NOT make any promises.
But my team went to work!
Guess what????
We got the permits that the “BIG Guys” couldn’t get.
My team had the Idaho permit in less than 20 minutes. For the right weight this time.
Here’s the point of all this.
When things don’t go right, smile. I have taught my whole team this.
That right there is how we got the permits. They smiled as they worked and it didn’t take any time at all.
Ok, there might be a little knowledge that went into this too. Lol
Next time you need anything DOT, don’t call the “Big Guys” , call the team who can get it done!
Dan Greer
