Every Sunday morning I pray that God opens my heart so that I can hear what He would have to say to me from the preaching. As I mentioned last week in my blog, we are going through the book of Ruth and today our preacher spoke from Ruth 2. One of the first things he said was for us to ask God what He wanted to say to us - he probably always says this but for some reason I really picked up on it this morning. He also started by referencing Luke 24: 27 - "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." This tells us that everything in the Bible points back to Jesus and every scripture/passage points back to Him and He does want to say something to us with every word in the Bible.
In Ruth 2:2 the Bible talks about Ruth going to fields to glean what was left of the harvest. I immediately wrote down in my journal "leaving some for the poor (giving)." I didn't necessarily mean only giving to those that that don't have everything I have but looking for opportunities to give in any situation. While I was writing the pastor went on to talk about what "gleaning" meant - in those days it meant that the landowners were commanded by God to leave the droppings, essentially, from their crops so that the poor or foreigners could come behind them and gather up the droppings for their table. While Ruth was gleaning what was left of the harvest Boaz came out and said "The Lord be with you," which shows his generosity and character.
So two things from this: Do I take what is leftover and help someone out and do I have the character of being cheerful in giving like Boaz did? The answer is more often than not I don't give what is leftover. Sure, I volunteer a lot of my time, but most any financial gain I have, I put it in the bank and save it up. One of my goals this year, that I set last week, before this message today, was to give this year - not just tithe, but give. Let me just say that God spoke and validated that goal this morning. Hmm..maybe this is why the pastor chose this book to start the new year with....
In that field, on that day, Ruth being from a foreign land and Boaz being a Jewish man of standing - what were the chances that they would meet? 100% - because it was God's will (those were the pastor's words not mine) And that really made me think this morning as well. We think, wow what a coincidence, but I have come to learn over the last couple of years that there is really no such thing as coincidences, just divine intervention. So this takes me back to what I wrote about last week - looking for a job, a friendship ending, etc. What are the chances that you're going to find that job - 100%. What are the chances you will find a new, stronger friendship - 100%. Something else my pastor said this morning that I wish I could take credit for is this - "When you give your life up to Jesus, you are then his responsibility." And that should give anyone who is a believer great comfort!
The second chapter of Ruth goes on to talk about Ruth's character - she takes initiative, she is humble and hardworking. All traits that as women we can look too and model ourselves after. Ruth 2:12 - "The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge." Grace always takes the initiative - God's grace always takes the initiative even when we don't deserve it. More things that made sense to me this morning.
By the end of Ruth 2 - Noami and Ruth's "luck" has changed and they have been moved from a place of great bitterness to a place of hope. That changed everything for them - Hope.
To give, to be generous and of good character, to take initiative, to be humble, to be a hard-worker and to have hope are all lessons we can learn from the Book of Ruth. It definitely validated some of my decisions for 2015 and it gave me some other things to think about. In the midst of this life we often lose hope, but why should we, when we know who holds our future?
No comments :
Post a Comment