Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Practice Humility | Historical Books | Isaiah 47

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Can you practice humility? Has pride convinced you that your power is enough? What does it mean to be humble? In today's episode, Tanya shares how Isaiah 47 reminds us that God values a heart of humility. Read the Bible with us in 2026! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Isaiah 47

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. Question. Can you practice humility? Like a jump shot or a dance routine, can you practice it over and over and actually get better at it? I want to think so. Let me start with a simple Starbucks story. Now, you might not see the connection between Starbucks and humility at first, but stay with me for just a minute.

For years, I met my friends at the same Starbucks every week at 5.30 a.m. It was calm and consistent. But around 2021 and 2022, things noticeably changed. Sometimes the bathrooms were locked. They were boxes piled up near the front of the store. The service was slower. It seemed like the bristas were trying to handle the drive-through and the mobile orders and not even really paying attention to those of us standing at the counter. It felt like the store was struggling to operate and maybe didn't need to be. It was struggling to operate and maybe didn't need to be. It's a lot. It was trying to be able to be able to. It was. It was trying to be able to be able to. It was. It was. It was trying to be even want to operate the way it used to. Now, here's the important part. Starbucks, at some level, recognized that something had slipped, and they were willing to relearn what had once to find them. So under the direction of their new CEO, Brian Nickel, the company launched a turnaround plan called Back to Starbucks. It emphasized better service, better operations, and a renewed support for their employees. And so they piloted this at one Seattle store. And the regulars began noticing small but steady improvements. There was more staff to take care of them. The seating was refreshed, and it was like you actually were invited to come in and sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee.

The self-served condomat station returned, I don't know if you've noticed. Buristas, following a new service model, acknowledged customers in line created a smoother pace for the order. It wasn't dramatic, but it was intentional. And the store began to feel attentive again. Corporate changes supported all of this. There was leadership restructuring, new operational tools. They developed something called the smart queue. They had better scheduling. And within months, Starbucks sales rose. Wait times dropped. Customer loyalty was polling better. The company had chosen to learn again rather than defend what was no longer working. So that brings us to today's passage in our discussion about humility. In Isaiah 47, long before Babylon reached its height of influence, Isaiah predicted its downfall. Isaiah 47 says, Go down, as if it's talking to Babylon. Sit in the dust, virgin daughter Babylon.

Sit on the ground without a throne. Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance. Now, Babylon, just so we all know, stands in scripture as a sceptive. symbol of pride, idolatry. Babylon, it believes that it is untouchable. While God's people are often described as a bride prepared in beauty for her wedding day, Babylon here is portrayed as a woman who assumes that she is secure, powerful, beautiful, while her true motives quietly erode that image and that foundation. Now, history fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy. The Babylonians, who once held Judah

captive became captives themselves in 539 BC. And our chapter today shows us why. It says, You have trusted in your wickedness and said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say, I am, and there is none beside me. And we're all like, right, who tells God I am? I mean, God is the I am, right? But that's the problem. Babylon trusted its successes. Babylon believed that its power insulated it, Babylon thought it needed no one, including God. Pride had convinced the empire that its wisdom and power was enough. Now, for us, pride rarely bursts in loudly. I think it slides in more quietly. It feels like confidence. It looks like progress. It sounds like affirmation. Now, none of those are bad. But pride can be the habit of

offering advice, but never seeking it because of our confidence, or assuming we always know what's best because of our progress, or living as if we must stay in control because of our success. But Babylon reminds us where that confidence eventually leads. So how do we resist the slow slide of pride? Well, Peter gives us the answer in first Peter 5, and I want to believe Peter because I think that he is someone who has been through this whole circular journey. And Peter says, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.

And then he says, humble yourselves, as if it's an active thing we need to do. Humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Of course, we want to be seen, appreciated, and recognized.

But Peter teaches us that God sees us more clearly and remords us more faithfully than anyone ever could. And so we can trust that his timing is better than ours, that his approval is the one that counts. Humility, then, becomes both a desire, something that we want God to do in us and for us, but also a practice. So back to the original question.

Can you practice humility and get better at it? And would you be willing to try? I think we can all ask ourselves that, right? Do you have a space where you're not the expert? Do you have a space where mistakes are expected where learning is welcome? Do you have a space where you're the newer or weaker person and you have room for growth and you have space to hear others? Philippians 2.3 says, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vanquence eat.

Rather in humility, value others above yourselves. Do you have a space like that where you have to lean on others because you don't have it all? Now, that verse describes a posture that we can carry in everyday life. For me, one of those spaces was the swimming pool. Right before the pandemic, I signed up for swimming lessons at our local gym. It's because I can't swim and breathe at the same time. I thought, my kids can do it. I should be able to do this.

This is ridiculous. So I'm going to do this. Now, the pool at our gym is surrounded by glass. The whole thing feels really exposing. And I will just tell you that I never actually learned how to swim and breathe at the same time. But the instructor tried to teach me a scissor kick so my head could stay above the water and I could swim and breathe with my head outside of the water. I can laugh about it now, but in the moment, it was very, very humbling. But that's exactly the point. Entering a space as a

non-expert and a beginner makes us really open. It helps us accept help. It shapes a posture in us that competence alone just can't do. Jesus warned his religious leaders, those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. There will be a day when God lifts us up. I think there even will be a day while I will be able to swim and breathe at the same time,

but not because of our achievements, but because Christ is made us holy through his sacrifice. Everything about our identity and our future, it doesn't rest on any of our ability, but only on what he has done. So what does that mean for you today? Well, it means you can walk into your life calm and grounded. It means you don't have to cling to approval. You don't have to fear criticism. It means that your confidence does not depend on your performance. It means that you can listen without losing yourself. It means that you can grow without defending yourself. Humility allows us to receive correction without being crushed. It can

keeps success from reshaping us, and it frees us to value others without feeling diminished. God values a heart that is willing to learn, willing to serve, and willing to depend on him and others. May you find one place this week where you choose that kind of weakness on purpose, one place where you allow yourself to be taught, one place where humility becomes something practiced, not imagined. Best to you. Thank you.