Thursday 23 Jan 2014

Thursday Reading: Ruth 1:1-5

Key Verse: Ruth 1:5
Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the woman survived her two sons and her husband.

Devotion:
We can look at stories like these in our bibles and come up with lots of reasons or excuses why things should have happened the way that they did; but the truth is that God was not too pleased with Elimelech’s path he had chosen. God was allowing a famine to spread across the land for a reason; people were turning away from God. He did not want them to scatter themselves around the world but to pull together as a country with one God and show everyone that they trusted their God, no matter what!

Yes God knew what was going on and He probably allowed many things to happen to Elimelech and his sons before they died so that they were given plenty of time to turn back to God. We could say that Elimelech was taking the best care of his family that he could, but sometimes it is about entrusting our families to God and not to try and do everything ourselves. God was not the one here that was bringing death into the family, but He was going to allow it because they were not walking with Him as they should have!

If we walk away from God then we should not be surprised to see things happen that we do not like. This is not God punishing us but rather us inviting these things into our lives. I know this may be contentious to many people but we have to face it, God should not have to care for us if we do not care for Him! God does say that there will be crosses that we do have to take up in our lives, we are not immune to everything just because we trust in God. What He does say is that we will not have to carry the cross alone if we are trusting in Him!

Death is a certainty. We cannot escape it unless God Himself chooses to save us from it. We have to face it, but we do not have to face it alone; and we certainly do not have to see it as the end of everything because He has promised us eternal life. What we do in our lives before that death will not just affect us but will affect all of the people that get to know us as well. The things that happen to us do not just affect us; they affect the people close to us as well. Naomi and her daughter in laws were going to be profoundly affected by what the men did!

Points to Ponder:
Are you doing what you want?

Is it affecting others?