Title: The Blessing of a Free Soul
Judges (29) The blessing of having a free soul (Judges 11:9-11)
< Deep Encounter with God >
How could Jephdah become the protagonist of a comeback life? He had a thoroughly God-centered faith (verse 9). Also, after accepting the fight with Ammon and becoming the leader of Gilead, immediately afterward, he told all his words to God (verse 11). From those words, we can see that he was a praying man. In the end, faith to completely depend on God was the best secret that turned Jephthah's life into a life of reversal.
No matter how much courage and talent you have, it is impossible to turn your life around without God's help. So, if you want the ultimate victory, turn your heart to God. The most important problem for man is meeting God. It is okay to live a little poorly on this earth, to be a little short, to be a little short, and to study a little, but it's never okay if you don't meet God. If you have a deep encounter with God and always put God's will ahead of your own, it is possible to change your life from now on.
Look at Rahab the prostitute in Joshua chapter 2. Although she was fortunate not to be stoned to death, she realized where God's will was going and risked her life to hide the Israeli spies. In the end, she was the only survivor in Jericho when Israel conquered Jericho, and, like a lily that bloomed in the wasteland, she was a prostitute and left her name in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1.
If you want a reverse life, like Rahab, realize where God's providence is now and act promptly according to God's will. Your past occupations and deeds will never stand in the way of your success. Also, past failures never claim the present. What is important is whether you are living in a deep encounter with God. If you do your best while achieving such an encounter with God, a reversed life will surely unfold.
< The blessing of a free soul >
One day when I was in my sophomore year in high school, my second son got tired of playing and started studying. And in the next test, the child who was in 42nd place suddenly finished 4th. I can't believe it, but on the next exam, the final exam of my sophomore year in high school, I finally got first place in my class. The second son, who made studying fun, said: "Dad! Please let me go back to the first year of high school instead of going up to the third year of high school. I will start studying again.”
In Korea, kneeling for a year is a big deal, but in Canada, that shouldn't be a problem at all, so I finally let my son go from his first year of high school to his request. In the end, the second son graduated from high school with the highest grades in Canada and graduated from the most prestigious University of Waterloo in Canada, receiving a full four-year scholarship as a math specialist. The eldest daughter also had poor grades in school, but she was good at English, so she got a score of 630 in the first TOEFL test she took in high school, and entered Handong Global University.
The hierarchy established in the framework of a formal education does not result in the order of success and happiness. Nowadays, many parents spend their academy until Sundays in urgency, but when they do not have a Sunday life as a teenager and are deprived of opportunities and even time to demonstrate their individual creativity, they may achieve small victories, but lose big victories and eventually lose. Love God. Then live as a free soul with a holy free soul. Such a life will eventually become the protagonist of a reverse life by maximizing one's talents based on God-given creativity and ideas.