As I do with a lot of FMD songs, I made an attempt to capture the raw emotion contained within this song's inspired scripture. In Judges 11:30-39, a mighty warrior makes an unnecessary oath with God that he will sacrifice the first things he sees upon arriving home from battle if God were to grant him a military victory. Sadly, he sees his daughter upon arriving home, and holds himself to a pact he made with God -- one that God surely would have rather him not carried out.

It raises some important spiritual and philosophical questions...including, why did Jephthah feel the need to make the pact with God to ensure his battlefield victory? He was a man of faith, but perhaps that particular battle on that fateful day seemed so overwhelming that he felt his faith wouldn't be sufficient to guarantee victory. He felt he had to offer God a little something extra to obtain His holy blessing, which was something God never required him to do.

How often do we do the same thing? Sometimes, when the odds are against me, I feel like I have to offer God something He doesn't even need in order to have a good outcome. Maybe an extra "good" work or two? However, God doesn't need me to make such an offering, when he has already been beside me and proven himself to me time after time.