Yes

 DEVOTION

JUDGES

YES

Judges 11:29-40

29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD: "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 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." 32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon. 34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break." 36 "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry." 38 "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin. From this comes the Israelite custom 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.

A vow is a vow, and when it is to the Lord, it cannot be broken. This narrative is not easy to consider, as Jephthah had to sacrifice his only daughter as a burnt offering. In fact, that is a horrible act that we want to ignore and move on to another narrative where God does some mighty deed for the people. However, God did a mighty act for Jephthah by giving the Ammonites into his hands. This narrative also shows us that when Jephthah made a vow, he kept it no matter what. This is not a lesson to take to heart, for the Lord has told us not to make an oath by any means, but let our “yes be yes and our no be no” that anything else comes from the evil one. However, we have said ‘yes’ to the Lord, accepting Him as our Lord and Savior. So then, because we have said,  ‘yes,’ our ‘yes’ means ‘yes’ and that carries all sorts of implications. It is not a vow, or an oath, but it is our ‘yes’ and that means we will do what the Lord tells us to do, for He is our Lord. He holds the key to life, although He also holds the keys to death and Hades. He opens a door for us that no one can shut. Literally, He has our lives in His hands, doing with us according to His promise. Because we said ‘yes’, His promise is eternal life. But that also means we are to obey His word, and we wonder how successful we are in following His commands, or being that overcomer He told John about in the revelation He gave him. Certainly, that cannot mean an overcomer is one who is sinless, for as long as we are in this flesh, we have not attained perfection. To overcome is to never turn away from the Lord and look to anything or anywhere else. Therefore, we have said ‘yes’ and we mean ‘yes’.