Daily Devotional
WHEN GOD HELPS A MAN
Text: Judges 16; Luke 13:6–9
“Then Samson called to the LORD and said, ‘O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me just this once, O God…’”
Message:
There is a kind of help from God that does more than remove a problem.
It changes the man who is carrying the problem.
Sometimes we ask God to change our circumstances, but God begins by changing us.
We ask Him to bless the fruit, while He is working on the root.
We ask Him for more money, but He begins dealing with our discipline.
We ask Him for influence, but He begins dealing with our character.
We ask Him for a relationship, but He begins healing the places in us that would sabotage it.
We ask Him to open a door, but He begins preparing us to walk through it.
This is one of the deeper ways God helps a man.
GOD CARES ABOUT THE ROOT
In Luke 13, Jesus tells the parable of a man who had a fig tree that produced no fruit. For three years, he came looking for fruit and found none. His first instinct was to cut it down, but the gardener said: “Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.”
Notice what the gardener does. He doesn’t immediately manufacture fruit. He works on the root, He digs, He cultivates, He strengthens what cannot be seen.
Because fruit is ultimately a reflection of what is happening underneath. And sometimes God does the same thing with us.
We may be frustrated because we cannot see the results we prayed for.
But heaven may be working beneath the surface.
God may be dealing with your thinking before your circumstances.
Your habits before your harvest.
Your character before your calling.
Your foundation before your increase.
The absence of visible fruit does not always mean the absence of God’s work.
Sometimes the most important work God is doing in a man’s life is happening where nobody can see it.
Prayer:
Father, when I ask You for fruit, give me the patience to let You work on my roots.
Deal with the things in me that need to change before You give me the things I am asking for.
Strengthen my character. Correct my thinking. Build my discipline.
Heal the hidden places in me. Ye, i am complete in Christ.
In Jesus Christ name, Amen.
