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There is a specific kind of pain that comes with being needed by the people who once hated you. You know the feeling when the phone rings and you realize they aren't calling to say sorry or looking to make things right, but because their life is falling apart, and you’re the only person they know who can actually fix it. Most of the time, people treat you like a spare tire. You're left in the trunk, ignored and dirty, until they get a flat on a backroad. Suddenly, you're the most important thing in the world, not because they care about you, but because they’re stuck. It’s exhausting to be useful but never actually wanted. We see this at work when a "difficult" boss only talks to the IT guy during a server crash, or in families where the "problem child" is only invited over when someone needs a loan. It makes you cynical. You start to realize your value isn't about who you are, but just about what you can do for them in an emergency. That is exactly what was happening in Judges 11. The story starts with a massive contradiction. Jephthah was a "mighty man of valor," but his mom was a prostitute. The Bible doesn't sugarcoat it. His brothers kicked him out because of his background, straight up telling him in verse 2 that he wasn't getting a dime of the family inheritance. So Jephthah ran off to the land of Tob. He ended up leading a gang of outcasts and survivors. The Bible doesn't say he sat around crying about it. He just got tough while his family enjoyed the money and land he was cheated out of. Then, the Ammonites attacked. In a total panic, the elders of Gilead, the same leaders who probably watched him get kicked out, tracked him down. They didn't show up with an apology, but "a job offer." Jephthah didn't let them off easy. He called them out immediately. He asked why they were standing on his doorstep now, after they’d hated him and chased him away. He forced them to look at their own hypocrisy. The elders didn't even try to deny it. They basically said, "Yeah, that’s why we’re here now". They didn't like him; they just needed him. Jephthah knew he had the upper hand. He didn't just agree to help; he negotiated. He made sure that if he won the war, they couldn't just throw him away again. He demanded to be their leader. He went from being a "nobody" to the "head of Gilead." His appointment, wasn't because they had a change of heart, they had no other choice. It was because of his undeniable necessity of his strength. This story shows how God works through people the world has already written off. God didn't wait for the elders to become nice people before He saved Israel. He used the man they rejected to save the very people who turned their backs on him. In verse 29, it says "the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah." God’s approval wasn't based on Jephthah’s family tree or how "fair" the elders were. God chose the man on the margins. Even though Jephthah was a flawed guy who made some big mistakes later on, God didn't erase him. In the New Testament, Hebrews 11:32 puts him in the Hall of Faith. The world remembered where he came from, but God remembered what he did. If you feel like people only reach out when they need something, remember Jephthah. Can you trust God to define who you are, even when the people around you only care about what you can do for them? #Christianity #BiblicalTruth #Rejection #Jephthah #Identity Ellis Enobun