Judges 11:1-3 – When Life Gives You Lemons…
1 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah.
2 And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman.
3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
Let’s face it, sometimes life is just not fair! Here we meet the hero of this story, a man named Jephthah who, only because he was born out of wedlock to a prostitute, was disowned by his family. It would have been easy for Jephthah to throw in the towel and give up there. However, that is not what he did! In fact, when he left and went to Tob, he started to gather a following as a “mighty man of valor.” So much so that when the people who had disowned were in trouble he had built a strong enough reputation where they will be going to him for help! They even promise to make him their leader when he wins! Talk about a change in circumstances!
Although w e do not know more about Jephthah’s time in Tob, he was clearly making the best of a bad situation. Often, life deals bad situations. Sometime, those bad situations are entirely our own fault. When that happens, we just need to do our best to make it right. However, when the situation is no fault of our own, and we, like Jephthah, cannot change our circumstances, they only thing we can control is how we react to it. When bad situations show up, let’s make the most of it! Although we cannot always control what happens to us, we can control how we respond to whatever happens.
Life Step: Think about it…
What kind of bad situations occur by no fault of our own?
How can we make the most of bad situations?
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
There are a lot of things that happen that we have no control over. Serious diseases, sometimes loss of jobs, a death in the family, etc. These examples can be hard because we don’t understand the “why” sometimes.
I think the best way to make the most of bad situations is to understand that trials and tribulations will come all through our lives, and that generally they are fleeting. All throughout our lives there will be good times and bad. It can’t be avoided. Lean on the Lord everyday and especially during difficult times. He will give you the strength and wisdom you need to get through them. Look at the bad times as a chance to grow. Usually we can all learn something from every situation. Having a good attitude really is a choice.
As always, these devotions help me to really look at my life, I fall prey to a bad attitude at times too.
Like Laura said, there’s a lot of things that can happen in our lives that isn’t our fault, and we think “why?” God always has a reason what we’re going through, even if we don’t see it now. Looking back, I can see times when I was thinking “God why are you putting me through this?!” but now I know why I went through it. I think the best thing is to remember that there is a reason for what we’re going through, and to try to have a good attitude, even when it’s hard.
There are alot of bad things that happen in our lives, That we had nothing todo with. And when they happen we ask god why. Or blame it on ourselfs. But God is the one who is makeing thing happen, and for a good reason. We might not know the reason right there and then but the reason will apear sometime. And when we go through all of this we tend to have a bad attitude. When we respond that why it does make anything better. But when we have a good attitude Things will seem alot easyer. On us on God and on everyone around you. 🙂