Latest / Bible Chat Devotional / June 2 - Refined and Redeemed
Transcript
- 0:02Welcome to Bible Chat, where we have devotional conversations
- 0:06rooted in scripture and relevant for today, June 2nd.
- 0:11Refined and redeemed. Have you ever been in a season
- 0:15where it felt like everything was being tested?
- 0:18Your patience, your faith, your sense of who you even are?
- 0:22Like life just kept turning up the heat and you had no idea
- 0:26when it was going to let up. That pressure is real and the
- 0:30Bible doesn't pretend it isn't. Proverbs chapter 17, verses 3 to
- 0:354 says the Crucible is for silver and the furnace is for
- 0:39gold, and the Lord tests hearts. Now think about that for a
- 0:43second. A Crucible is an intense heat
- 0:45that burns away impurities so that what's left is pure,
- 0:49valuable, and strong. And the verse is saying that's
- 0:52what God does with us. He doesn't put us in the fire to
- 0:56destroy us, He puts us in the fire to refine us, to burn off
- 1:00the stuff that doesn't belong, to reveal what we're really made
- 1:04of. That's not an easy truth, but it
- 1:08is a hopeful 1. Psalm 63, verses 3 and 4.
- 1:12Give us something to hold onto in those moments, because your
- 1:16steadfast love is better than life.
- 1:18My lips will praise you, so I will bless you.
- 1:21As long as I live in your name. I will lift up my hands.
- 1:25David wrote this in a dry and weary wilderness, Literally.
- 1:29He was hiding, exhausted, uncertain about his future.
- 1:32And yet in the middle of all of that, he was able to say, God,
- 1:36your love is better than life itself.
- 1:39That's not denial. That's depth of faith.
- 1:42That's someone who has learned to find God even in the furnace.
- 1:46And then there's Ruth's story picking back up in Ruth chapter
- 1:504. Remember, she had lost her
- 1:52husband, She followed her mother-in-law into an uncertain
- 1:56future. She worked in someone else's
- 1:58fields just to survive. And yet God was writing a
- 2:02redemption story the whole time. In Ruth chapter 4 verses 14 and
- 2:0615, the women say to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, who has not
- 2:11left you this day without a Redeemer.
- 2:13He shall be. To you, a restorer of life and a
- 2:16nourisher of your old age, what looked like loss became legacy.
- 2:20What looked like the end became a new beginning.
- 2:24Here's the thing about hard seasons.
- 2:26They rarely make sense while you're in them.
- 2:28You can't see what God is building when you're in the
- 2:31middle of the breaking, but that doesn't mean he isn't working.
- 2:35The furnace isn't a sign that God has abandoned you.
- 2:38It might actually be a sign that He trusts you with something
- 2:41deeper. You might be going through
- 2:44something right now that feels like it's too much.
- 2:47Relationship drama, family stress, pressure at school,
- 2:51disappointment that just won't let up and you're wondering when
- 2:54it's going to end. Can I encourage you?
- 2:57Just like fire transforms raw gold into something beautiful,
- 3:01God can use every hard moment to shape your character deep in
- 3:05your faith and lead you into something better than what you
- 3:08could have planned for yourself. Don't give up in the furnace.
- 3:13The refining is happening. Let's pray.
- 3:17Heavenly Father, thank you for using even the hard moments in
- 3:20our lives to grow our faith and draw us closer to You.
- 3:24We don't always understand the fire, but we trust the One who
- 3:27holds us in it. Help us to find joy in Your
- 3:30steadfast love, even in difficult seasons, and give us
- 3:34the courage to believe that you are writing a redemption story
- 3:38even when we can't see it yet. In Jesus name, Amen.
- 3:44When the battle feels personal, relentless, and too heavy to
- 3:47name, your prayers do not have to fall silent.
- 3:50Under Siege is a prayer script series for believers walking
- 3:54through fear, betrayal, spiritual pressure and unseen
- 3:58conflict. With a warm, faith centered
- 4:01focus. These books give voice to the
- 4:03cry for help, the fight for a steady mind, the weariness that
- 4:07longs to run, the chaos of hostile environments, the pain
- 4:11of broken trust, and the confidence to leave judgement in
- 4:14God's hands. This series helps you pray with
- 4:17discernment, endurance, and covenant trust.
- 4:20When the pressure is real and the path feels narrow, stand
- 4:23firm. Pray clearly.
- 4:26Remember that God hears his people in the middle of the
- 4:28battle. Order now on Amazon or visit
- 4:31prayerscripts.org. Now I invite you to spend time
- 4:39with God in today's three-year Bible reading plan.
- 4:43Proverbs chapter 17 verses 3 to 4 world English Bible The
- 4:48refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh
- 4:52tests the hearts and evildoer heeds wicked lips, a liar gives
- 4:57ear to a mischievous tongue. Psalm Chapter 63 World English
- 5:01Bible God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you.
- 5:05My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you in a dry
- 5:09and weary land where there is no water.
- 5:12So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power
- 5:15and your glory, Because your loving kindness is better than
- 5:19life. My lips shall praise you so I
- 5:21will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your
- 5:24name. My soul shall be satisfied as
- 5:27with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with
- 5:30joyful lips when I remember you on my bed and think about you in
- 5:34the night. Watches for you have been my
- 5:36help. I will rejoice in the shadow of
- 5:38your wings. My soul stays close to you.
- 5:42Your right hand holds me up. But those who seek my soul to
- 5:45destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
- 5:48They shall be given over to the power of the sword.
- 5:52They shall be Jackal food. But the king shall rejoice in
- 5:55God. Everyone who swears by him will
- 5:57praise him, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be
- 6:00silenced. Ruth Chapters 3 to 4 World
- 6:05English Bible Naomi, her mother-in-law said to her, My
- 6:08daughter, shall I not seek rest for you, that it may be well
- 6:11with you now? His bows are kinsmen with whose
- 6:14maidens you were. Behold, he will be winnowing
- 6:17barley tonight on the thrashing floor.
- 6:20Therefore wash yourself, anoint yourself, get dressed and go
- 6:24down to the thrashing floor. But don't make yourself known to
- 6:27the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
- 6:31It shall be when he lies down that you shall note the place
- 6:34where he is lying. Then you shall go in, uncover
- 6:37his feet, and lay down. Then he will tell you what to
- 6:40do. She said to her.
- 6:42All that you say I will do. She went down to the thrashing
- 6:46floor and did everything that her mother-in-law told her.
- 6:50When Bose had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went
- 6:53to lie down at the end of the heap of grain.
- 6:56She came softly, uncovered his feet, and laid down at midnight.
- 7:01The man was startled and turned himself, and behold, a woman lay
- 7:04at his feet. He said, Who are you?
- 7:07She answered, I am Ruth your servant.
- 7:10Therefore spread the corner of your garment over your servant,
- 7:13for you are a near kinsman. He said, You are blessed by
- 7:16Yahweh. My daughter, you have shown more
- 7:19kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, because you
- 7:22didn't follow young men, whether poor or rich.
- 7:25Now, my daughter, don't be afraid, I will do to you all
- 7:29that you say, for all the city of my people knows that you are
- 7:33a worthy woman. Now it is true that I am a near
- 7:36kinsman. However, there is a kinsman
- 7:38nearer than I. Stay this night and in the
- 7:42morning. If you will perform for you the
- 7:43part of a kinsman, good, let him do the kinsman's duty.
- 7:48But if he will not do the duty of a kinsman for you, then I
- 7:51will do the duty of a kinsman for you.
- 7:53As Yahweh lives, Lie down until the morning.
- 7:57She lay at his feet until the morning.
- 7:59Then she rose up before 1 could discern another.
- 8:03For he said let it not be known that the woman came to the
- 8:06thrashing floor. He said bring the mantle that is
- 8:09on you and hold it. She held it and he measured 6
- 8:12measures of barley and laid it on her.
- 8:16Then he went into the city. When she came to her
- 8:19mother-in-law, she said how did it go my daughter?
- 8:22She told her all that the man had done for her.
- 8:25She said he gave me these six measures of barley, for he said,
- 8:29don't go empty to your mother-in-law.
- 8:31Then she said, wait my daughter, until you know what will happen,
- 8:35for the man will not rest until he has settled this today.
- 8:39Now Bose went up to the gate and sat down there.
- 8:42Behold, the near kinsman of whom Bose spoke came by.
- 8:46Bose said to him, come over here friend, and sit down.
- 8:49He came over and sat down. Bose took ten men of the elders
- 8:54of the city and said, Sit down here and they sat down.
- 8:58He said to the near kinsman Naomi, who has come back out of
- 9:02the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land which was our
- 9:05brother Elimelech. SI thought I should tell you,
- 9:09saying, Buy it before those who sit here and before the elders
- 9:13of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem
- 9:15it. But if you will not redeem it,
- 9:17then tell me that I may know, for there is no one to redeem it
- 9:22besides you, and I am after you. He said I will redeem it.
- 9:26Then Bose said, On the day you buy the field from the hand of
- 9:30Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabite us, the wife of
- 9:34the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.
- 9:38The near kinsman said, I can't redeem it for myself lest I
- 9:43endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for
- 9:47yourself, for I can't redeem it. Now.
- 9:50This was the custom in former time in Israel concerning
- 9:53redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all
- 9:56things. A man took off his sandal and
- 10:00gave it to his neighbor, and this was the way of formalizing
- 10:03transactions in Israel. So the near kinsman said to
- 10:07bows, Buy it for yourself. Then he took off his sandal.
- 10:11Bows said to the elders and to all the people, You are
- 10:15witnesses today that I have bought all that was a limelech S
- 10:18and all that was Chileans and Malons from the hand of Naomi.
- 10:23Moreover, Ruth the Moabite S the wife of Malon I have purchased
- 10:27to be my wife to raise up the name of the dead on his
- 10:30inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from
- 10:34among his brothers and from the gate of his place.
- 10:38You are witnesses today, all the people who were in the gate and
- 10:41the elders said We are witnesses.
- 10:44May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like
- 10:47Rachel and like Lee, which both built the House of Israel, and
- 10:51treat you worthily in Ephratha, and be famous in Bethlehem.
- 10:56Let your house be like the House of Perez, whom Tamer bore to
- 10:59Judah, of the offspring which Yahweh will give you by this
- 11:02young woman. So bows took Ruth and she became
- 11:05his wife and he went into her and Yahweh enabled her to
- 11:10conceive and she bore a son. The women said to Naomi, Blessed
- 11:15be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a near kinsman,
- 11:18Let his name be famous in Israel.
- 11:21He shall be to you a restorer of life and sustain you in your old
- 11:25age. For your daughter-in-law who
- 11:27loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth
- 11:30to him. Naomi took the child, laid him
- 11:34in her bosom and became nurse to him.
- 11:38The women, her neighbors gave him a name saying A son is born
- 11:41to Naomi. They named him Obed.
- 11:44He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
- 11:47Now this is the history of the generations of Perez.
- 11:51Perez became the father of Hezron, and Hezron became the
- 11:54father of Ram. And Ram became the father of
- 11:57Amanadab. And Amanadab became the father
- 12:00of Nashan. And Nashan became the father of
- 12:03Salmon. And Salmon became the father of
- 12:05Bose, and Bose became the father of Obed, and Obed became the
- 12:09father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.
- 12:15Thanks for joining us on Bible Chat, where Scripture meets
- 12:19everyday life. If today's devotional encouraged
- 12:22you, share it with a friend and be sure to follow the podcast so
- 12:26you won't miss the next conversation.
- 12:28Until next time, stay rooted in truth, anchored in hope, and
- 12:31walking daily with Jesus.