NEVER BRIBE GOD

Thursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Judges 11:29-39

Jephtah, in the First Reading today, is very much like us. We must learn his lesson.

Jephtah was desperate to win over his enemies, the Ammonites. He courted God’s favor and went as far as making not a simple promise but a vow to God. He vowed that he would offer to God as holocaust the first person to meet him from the door of his house if he would return victorious over the Ammonites. He won the battle and, mindful of his solemn promise, returned home. And who was the first person to meet him from the door of his house? No less than his daughter, his only child. O, oh!

Without the wink of an eye, Jephtah’s joy turned into grief, his gratitude into regret, his glorious gain into a big loss. But because he made a vow to God, Jephtah offered his daughter, his only child, to God as a burnt offering. God granted Jephtah his request; Jephtah fulfilled his vow to God.

But what about Jephtah’s daughter? Poor girl! She did not have anything to do at all with Jephtah’s deal with God, but she became an unknowing victim.

Jephtah’s daughter went to the mountains with her friends to bewail her virginity. She could hardly bear the thought of dying a virgin. Interesting, she grieved not because she was to die but because she was to die a virgin!

My friend, Cyril, once gave me this piece of advice, “Be careful with what you pray for. Do not make promises to God that you do not intend or can keep. Kapag sineryoso mo ang Diyos, seseryosohin ka rin Niya.” We should always be sincere with what we tell God in prayer. But we must also be fully aware of what we promise Him. We must never make false promises or promises we cannot actually keep. Mrs. Essie Cachapero, my teacher in high school used to say, “A promise is a debt.” Jephtah paid his with a price so dearly: her dear daughter.

We do not need to court God with promises we cannot really fulfill. We should not think that God will grant our request because we promise Him something in return. God gives us what we ask of Him simply because He loves us more than we know; promises or no promises on our part. Sometimes making promises to Him appears like bribing Him. Never bribe God. He will freely give.