Judges 11:27-28 – Let God Be The Judge

²⁷ Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the Lord the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.

²⁸ Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Jephthah, now the leader of the people who had kicked him out while he was younger, tries to send a messenger to the Ammonite leader to talk things out before they have to go to war. These diplomatic attempts fail to prevent war, but Jephthah concludes his arguments with the verses above. Although neither Jephthah nor Israel did anything wrong to the Ammonites, Jephthah did not threaten to end this himself. He simply told them that God would decide who is right.

As we will see, God did allow Jephthah to be the one to defeat the Ammonites, but the important thing is that Jephthah was willing to let God be the one to be the judge in the matter. Luke 6:28 says, “Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” As Christians, getting back at someone is not our responsibility. God can take care of that himself. In Luke, the Bible goes even further and says that we should even pray for people who use us and bless people that curse us. That’s a high standard!

Whoever might have wronged us, it is not our job to get back at them. We tend to make ourselves judge and decide what punishment people should face for what they have done to us. We, however, do not have the authority to do that, only God. So, if you’re bitter at someone or want to get a person back for some kind of wrong they did, let it go and let God work it out.

Life Step: Think about it…

What is our natural response when people hurt us?

What should our response be?

Why is this difficult for us?