Speaker 1: Life Audio.
Speaker 2: Hello, thank you for listening to your Daily Bible Verse,
Speaker 2: the podcast that examines one verse each day to learn
Speaker 2: more about God and his will for us. I'm your host,
Speaker 2: Jennifer Slattery, and after this short word from our sponsors,
Speaker 2: we'll dive into today's Bible Verse Judges four twenty one.
Speaker 2: Today's Bible Versus Judges for twenty one A jail Heber's
Speaker 2: wife picked up a tent peg and a hammer and
Speaker 2: went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep. Exhausted,
Speaker 2: she drove the peg through his temple into the ground,
Speaker 2: and he died. Our God can reach us in and
Speaker 2: rescue us from the deepest pit, and often does so
Speaker 2: in unexpected ways, reminding us that nothing is beyond his
Speaker 2: power to redeem and say. For fourteen years, my friend
Speaker 2: slipped further and further into alcoholism. Things became so bad
Speaker 2: one night she begged God to take her life. The
Speaker 2: next morning, she awoke angry that he hadn't answered her prayers. Later,
Speaker 2: while driving to work, an elderly man frantically waved her down. Confused,
Speaker 2: she stopped locking eyes with her.
Speaker 1: He said, Hey, I don't know why I had to
Speaker 1: stop you, but God told me to tell you he
Speaker 1: loves you. She knew immediately that the Lord was reaching
Speaker 1: out to her in her despair. He found me in
Speaker 1: my darkest hour, she said, and restored my light. Her
Speaker 1: story in the events surrounding today's Bible Verse highlight a
Speaker 1: comforting truth. Our Father can use all things, including the
Speaker 1: most unexpected means, to rescue his children. In doing so,
Speaker 1: he teaches us to trust in him, not our resources
Speaker 1: or solutions. In last Friday's Your Daily Bible Verse episode,
Speaker 1: we discussed how God called Barak to confront Israelite's Canaanite oppressors.
Speaker 1: Barack agreed if Deborah accompanied him. She did, but said
Speaker 1: a woman would receive the honor for Sisra's defeat. Reading
Speaker 1: these events, one might assume she was referring to herself.
Speaker 1: No one expected Jail, whose husband had formed an alliance
Speaker 1: with canaan to defeat their commander. Here's how it happened. Cisra,
Speaker 1: the Canaanite commander, gathered his troops, including his nine hundred
Speaker 1: iron fortified chariots, and marched to the Kisharon River, likely
Speaker 1: anticipating an easy win, but the Lord intervened. According to
Speaker 1: verse fifteen, quote at Barrock's advance. The Lord routed Sisra
Speaker 1: and all his chariots in army by the sword, and
Speaker 1: Siser got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
Speaker 1: He sought refuge at Hebber's house to his demise, using
Speaker 1: his exhaustion against him. Hebber's wife, Jail, invited him in,
Speaker 1: gave him a blanket and a skin of milk, and
Speaker 1: once he fell asleep, she drove a tent peg through
Speaker 1: his temple, arising as the unlikely champion Deborah predicted in
Speaker 1: verse nine. Notice everything Cisser relied on for strength and security,
Speaker 1: fortified chariots, powerful soldiers, and the allied place in which
Speaker 1: he hid and sought safety, all those things failed. They
Speaker 1: proved no match to the power and sovereignty of the
Speaker 1: Lord of Heaven's armies. Here's why I find this comforting.
Speaker 1: When difficulties hit, I often look for rescue in expected ways.
Speaker 1: When those outlets prove ineffective or nonexistent, I'm prone to panic.
Speaker 1: I fall into the same mental fallacy conveyed in Psalm
Speaker 1: seventy eight, verse twenty, which reads, speaking of God True,
Speaker 1: he struck the rock and water gushed out Streams flowed abundantly,
Speaker 1: But can he also give us bread? Can he supply
Speaker 1: meat for his people? In other words, yes, the Lord
Speaker 1: rescued me one way in one situation, but this problem
Speaker 1: I'm facing now feels different. Can God still help me now?
Speaker 1: To which Jail and Barack's story in essence replies absolutely,
Speaker 1: Because ultimately the victory comes not from horses, chariots, strong armies,
Speaker 1: or brilliantly strategic leaders, but through Christ. I don't know
Speaker 1: what you're facing now or what challenges you might encounter tomorrow,
Speaker 1: but I do know this. The same God who liberated
Speaker 1: ancient Israel in their distress is more than capable of
Speaker 1: rescuing you as well. Let's pray, Holy Father, as we
Speaker 1: sit in the Book of Judges, we are awed by
Speaker 1: your constant grace. You see all of our failures are weaknesses,
Speaker 1: all the ways that we rebel and land in a mess.
Speaker 1: And you meet us, You offer grace, You offer rescue
Speaker 1: before we have even finished our prayer. You meet us.
Speaker 1: You are not slow to keep your promises, You are
Speaker 1: not slow to show your faithfulness. Your arm is not
Speaker 1: to save. You are the God of Heaven's armies. You
Speaker 1: are the God who sees us who sees our pain,
Speaker 1: our fear, all of the problems standing before us, everything
Speaker 1: that feels way too heavy, way too insurmountable. You see
Speaker 1: it all, and you are moved by compassion, by mercy,
Speaker 1: by love. You speak to our souls in a thousand
Speaker 1: different ways. I am here, I am with you, I
Speaker 1: see you, and I love you. Help us to recognize
Speaker 1: your hand, your expressions of grace, whether that's through a
Speaker 1: beautiful sunrise that displays your glory, a note from a friend,
Speaker 1: a song we hear on the radio, a message spoken
Speaker 1: through someone we trust. Help us to be receptive to you.
Speaker 1: Increase our love for you. When the ground beneath us
Speaker 1: feels unsteady, May we focus on our true rock, You.
Speaker 1: We love you, and we praise you. And it is
Speaker 1: in the name of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: that we pray. A month
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