Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / March 27 - Patience and Purpose

Transcript

March 27 - Patience and Purpose · Bible Chat Devotional

• 0:02
  Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
• 0:06
  rooted in Scripture and relevant for today, March 27th.
• 0:11
  Patience and purpose. Waiting can feel frustrating,
• 0:15
  especially when you want clarity now, progress now, answers now,
• 0:18
  and change now. We live in a world built around
• 0:22
  instant results, instant reactions, and instant access.
• 0:26
  So when God asks us to wait, it can feel uncomfortable.
• 0:30
  It can even feel like nothing is happening.
• 0:33
  But waiting with God is never wasted.
• 0:35
  He is always working, even in the seasons that seem slow.
• 0:40
  Proverbs chapter 13 verse 4 says the soul of the sluggard craves
• 0:44
  and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly
• 0:48
  supplied. That verse reminds us that
• 0:50
  craving something is not the same as preparing for it.
• 0:54
  Wanting growth is not the same as pursuing it faithfully.
• 0:58
  God often blesses diligence, patience, and steady obedience
• 1:02
  more than rushed desire. Then in Judges chapter 13, an
• 1:06
  Angel appears and speaks, a promise over Samson's future
• 1:10
  before his story fully unfolds. Long before the public moments,
• 1:14
  there was quiet preparation. Long before the victories and
• 1:18
  failures, there was purpose. God was already at work.
• 1:22
  And then in Judges chapter 14 we start to see how choices affect
• 1:25
  calling. Samson was set apart for
• 1:28
  purpose, but that did not remove the need for wisdom.
• 1:32
  That is a good reminder for us. Having potential is not enough.
• 1:36
  Purpose still requires character.
• 1:39
  Calling still requires obedience.
• 1:41
  God may have plans for your life, but the decisions you make
• 1:44
  along the way matter deeply. Maybe you are in a season where
• 1:47
  you feel delayed. You are praying, trying,
• 1:51
  waiting, hoping and wondering why things are not moving
• 1:54
  faster. But God may be doing deeper work
• 1:57
  in you before He does visible work through you.
• 2:00
  He may be building patience, discipline, humility, or wisdom.
• 2:04
  He may be teaching you to trust Him more than your timeline.
• 2:07
  Waiting is not weakness. Waiting can be worshipped when
• 2:10
  it is done with trust. And patience is not passive, it
• 2:14
  is act of faith. It keeps showing up, It keeps
• 2:17
  obeying. It keeps growing roots even when
• 2:20
  fruit is not visible yet. So do not despise the slower
• 2:23
  season. Keep being diligent.
• 2:26
  Keep choosing what is right. Keep trusting that God knows how
• 2:29
  to prepare you for what He has prepared for you.
• 2:32
  His purpose is not lost just because the process feels long.
• 2:36
  Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You that
• 2:39
  You are working even when I cannot see the full picture.
• 2:42
  Help me to trust Your timing and not give in to impatience or
• 2:46
  frustration. Teach me to be diligent,
• 2:49
  faithful, and wise while I wait. Prepare my heart for the purpose
• 2:52
  you have for my life and help me make choices that align with
• 2:55
  your will each day. In Jesus name, Amen.
• 3:00
  What if the most important question in your life deserves
• 3:03
  more than a shallow answer? Does God Exist Is a powerful,
• 3:07
  thought provoking series that explores reality, meaning, and
• 3:10
  truth through reason, evidence, human experience, and scripture
• 3:15
  without preaching pressure or assumptions.
• 3:17
  Book 1. Something from Nothing confronts
• 3:20
  the mystery of existence itself and asks why anything exists at
• 3:23
  all. Book 2.
• 3:25
  The Cause Behind the Cosmos, examines the origin of the
• 3:28
  universe and whether it points beyond itself.
• 3:31
  Book 3. Design or Accident, wrestles
• 3:33
  with order and complexity. Are they products of chance or
• 3:36
  intelligence? Book 4.
• 3:38
  The Moral Signature explores why objective right and wrong may
• 3:42
  require a source beyond human opinion.
• 3:44
  Book 5, The God We Cannot Escape, considers conscience,
• 3:47
  longing, and humanity's persistent awareness of God.
• 3:51
  Book 6, From Reason to Revelation, asks whether the God
• 3:54
  who exists would also speak. And Book 7, Denying God,
• 3:58
  examines the internal tensions of unbelief and the deeper
• 4:01
  implications of rejecting the divine.
• 4:03
  Written in clear, accessible language for seekers, skeptics,
• 4:06
  students, and curious minds, this series invites honest
• 4:10
  reflection and careful thinking. If you're ready to explore the
• 4:13
  question seriously, Order Does God Exist?
• 4:16
  On Amazon or visit prayerscripts.org today.
• 4:21
  Now I invite you to spend time with God in today's three-year
• 4:24
  Bible reading plan. Proverbs chapter 13 verses 3 to
• 4:28
  4 World English Bible. He who guards his mouth, guards
• 4:32
  his soul. One who opens wide his lips
• 4:35
  comes to ruin. The soul of the sluggard
• 4:37
  desires, and has nothing but the desire of the diligent shall be
• 4:41
  fully satisfied. Judges, Chapters 13 to 14.
• 4:45
  World English Bible. The children of Israel again did
• 4:49
  that which was evil in Yahweh's sight, and Yahweh delivered them
• 4:52
  into the hand of the Philistines. 40 years.
• 4:55
  There was a certain man of Zora, of the family of the Danites,
• 4:57
  whose name was Mano, and his wife was barren and childless.
• 5:02
  Yahweh's Angel appeared to the woman and said to her, See now
• 5:05
  you are barren and childless, but you shall conceive and bear
• 5:08
  a son. Now therefore please beware and
• 5:11
  drink no wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing,
• 5:15
  for behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son.
• 5:18
  No razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a
• 5:21
  Nazarite to God from the womb. He shall begin to save Israel
• 5:25
  out of the hand of the Philistines.
• 5:27
  Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God
• 5:31
  came to me, and his face was like the face of the Angel of
• 5:34
  God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he was
• 5:37
  from, neither did he tell me his name.
• 5:39
  But he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.
• 5:43
  And now drink no wine, nor strong drink.
• 5:46
  Don't eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazarite to
• 5:49
  God from the womb to the day of his death.
• 5:51
  Then Mano entreated Yahweh and said, O Lord, please let the man
• 5:55
  of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we
• 5:58
  should do to the child who shall be born.
• 6:01
  God listened to the voice of Mano, and the Angel of God came
• 6:04
  again to the woman as she sat in the field.
• 6:07
  But Mano, her husband, wasn't with her.
• 6:09
  The woman hurried and ran and told her husband, saying to him,
• 6:13
  Behold, the man who came to me that day has appeared to me.
• 6:16
  Mano arose and followed his wife and came to the man and said to
• 6:19
  him, Are you the man who spoke to my wife?
• 6:22
  He said, I am. Mano said, now let your words
• 6:25
  happen. What shall the child's way of
• 6:27
  life and mission be? Yahweh's Angel said to Mano of
• 6:31
  all that I said to the woman, Let her beware, she may not eat
• 6:34
  of anything that comes of the vine.
• 6:35
  Neither let her drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean
• 6:39
  thing. Let her observe all that I
• 6:41
  commanded her. Mano said to Yahweh's Angel,
• 6:44
  Please stay with us, that we may make a young goat ready for you.
• 6:47
  Yahweh's Angel said to Mano, though you detain me, I won't
• 6:50
  eat your bread. If you will prepare a burnt
• 6:53
  offering, you must offer it to Yahweh, for Mano didn't know
• 6:56
  that he was Yahweh's Angel. Mano said to Yahweh's Angel,
• 7:00
  What is your name, that when your words happen, we may honor
• 7:02
  you. Yahweh's Angel said to him, Why
• 7:05
  do you ask about my name, since it is incomprehensible?
• 7:09
  So Mano took the young goat with the meal offering and offered it
• 7:12
  on the rock to Yahweh. Then the Angel did an amazing
• 7:15
  thing as Mano and his wife watched.
• 7:18
  For when the flame went up toward the sky from off the
• 7:20
  altar, Yahweh's Angel ascended in the flame of the altar.
• 7:23
  Mano and his wife watched, and they fell on their faces to the
• 7:27
  ground. But Yahweh's Angel didn't appear
• 7:29
  to Mano or to his wife anymore. Then Mano knew that he was
• 7:33
  Yahweh's Angel. Mano said to his wife, We shall
• 7:36
  surely die because we have seen God.
• 7:38
  But his wife said to him, If Yahweh were pleased to kill us,
• 7:42
  he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a meal
• 7:44
  offering at our hand, and he wouldn't have shown us all these
• 7:47
  things, nor would he have told us such things as these.
• 7:49
  At this time the woman bore a son and named him Samson.
• 7:53
  The child grew and Yahweh blessed him.
• 7:56
  Yahweh's Spirit began to move him in Mahine Dan between Zora
• 8:00
  and Eshtal. Samson went down to Timna and
• 8:03
  saw a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines.
• 8:06
  He came up and told his father and his mother, saying, I have
• 8:10
  seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines,
• 8:13
  now therefore get her for me as my wife.
• 8:15
  Then his father and his mother said to him, Isn't there a woman
• 8:19
  among your brother's daughters or among all my people, that you
• 8:22
  go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?
• 8:25
  Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she pleases me
• 8:28
  well. But his father and his mother
• 8:31
  didn't know that it was of Yahweh, for he sought an
• 8:33
  occasion against the Philistines.
• 8:35
  Now at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
• 8:39
  Then Samson went down to Timna with his father and his mother,
• 8:42
  and came to the vineyards of Timna.
• 8:44
  And behold, a young lion roared at him.
• 8:47
  Yahweh's Spirit came mightily on him, and he tore him as he would
• 8:50
  have torn a young goat with his bare hands.
• 8:53
  But he didn't tell his father or his mother what he had done.
• 8:56
  He went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson
• 8:59
  well. After a while he returned to
• 9:01
  take her, and he went over to see the carcass of the lion, and
• 9:04
  behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and
• 9:08
  honey. He took it into his hands and
• 9:10
  went on eating as he went. He came to his father and mother
• 9:13
  and gave to them and they ate, but he didn't tell them that he
• 9:17
  had taken the honey out of the lion's body.
• 9:19
  His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast
• 9:23
  there, for the young men used to do so.
• 9:25
  When they saw him. They brought 30 companions to be
• 9:28
  with him. Samson said to them, Let me tell
• 9:31
  you a Riddle. Now, if you can tell me the
• 9:33
  answer within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then
• 9:36
  I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of
• 9:38
  clothing. But if you can't tell me the
• 9:40
  answer, then you shall give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes
• 9:44
  of clothing. They said to him, Tell us your
• 9:46
  Riddle, that we may hear it. He said to them, Out of the
• 9:50
  eater came out food, out of the strong came out sweetness.
• 9:53
  They couldn't in three days declare the Riddle.
• 9:56
  On the 7th day, they said to Samson's wife, Entice your
• 10:00
  husband that he may declare to us the Riddle, lest we burn you
• 10:03
  and your father's house with fire.
• 10:05
  Have you called us to impoverish us?
• 10:07
  Isn't that so? Samson's wife wept before him
• 10:10
  and said, you just hate me and don't love me.
• 10:13
  You've told a Riddle to the children of my people and
• 10:15
  haven't told it to me, he said to her.
• 10:18
  Behold, I haven't told my father or my mother, so why should I
• 10:21
  tell you? She wept before him the seven
• 10:24
  days while their feast lasted, and on the 7th day he told her
• 10:28
  because she pressed him severely, and she told the
• 10:31
  Riddle to the children of her people.
• 10:33
  The men of the city said to him on the 7th day before the sun
• 10:36
  went down. What is sweeter than honey?
• 10:39
  What is stronger than a lion? He said to them, If you hadn't
• 10:42
  plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have found out my
• 10:44
  Riddle. Yahweh's spirit came mightily on
• 10:47
  him, and he went down to Ashkellen and struck 30 men of
• 10:50
  them. He took their plunder, then gave
• 10:52
  the changes of clothing to those who declared the Riddle.
• 10:55
  His anger burned and he went up to his father's house, but
• 10:59
  Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his
• 11:02
  friend. Thanks for joining us on Bible
• 11:06
  Chat, where Scripture meets everyday life.
• 11:09
  If today's devotional encouraged you, share it with a friend and
• 11:12
  be sure to follow the podcast so you won't miss the next
• 11:15
  conversation. Until next time, stay rooted in
• 11:18
  truth, anchored in hope, and walking daily with Jesus.