Most people do not like to be the center of negative attention. Imagine Naomi and Ruth, tired and dusty from the long walk from Moab, surrounded by nosey Bethlehem women.
“Is that Naomi?”
“It can’t be!”
“This woman is old, worn-out.”
“See the bitterness in her face. Naomi would never look like that!”
“Isn’t that a Moabite woman with her?”
“What is she doing with her?”
Finally, when Naomi had heard enough, she responds, “Don’t call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me." Ruth 1:20-21(NIV) Naomi changes her to ‘Mara.’ She no longer wants to be known as ‘pleasant’ or “Merry Sunshine.’ (McGee, Ruth, page 29.)
Naomi knew the name of God but didn’t have a clue about the character of God. She had forgotten that God loved her and had a plan for her life even after her husband and sons died. She continued to look at her past and ignore her present blessings. She dwelled on her losses and not the gifts God had given her: her life, her new start in her hometown, and her precious daughter-in-law. What a waste of time and emotion!
Are you still holding on to your past? Are you overlooking the gifts God has given you? Are you listening to the negative talk? Consider Paul’s example.
“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13b-14 (NIV)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Familiar Words
‘But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."’ Ruth 1:16-17
What familiar words! Most of us think of these words as marriage vows. However, these words are an entreaty from a daughter-in-law to her husband’s mother. Ruth desires to go with Naomi. Commentaries suggest Ruth had become a follower of the one True God and wanted to continue to worship and serve Him and serve Naomi.
In verse 16, Ruth says “Don’t urge me…” This word ‘urge’ in the Hebrew can mean to push against, rushing someone with hostility, desired request be granted (Key Word Study Bible (NIV), page 1543). We might wonder if Ruth felt the hostility in Naomi’s words of returning home and was pleading with her to stop the hostile words. Ruth was not going back to Moab.
These words could remind us of missionaries all over the world. With their lives, they make these words their vow as they minister to these people. However, as they pray and minister to lost people all over the globe, they pray our God becomes their God. Many times these missionaries are discouraged, tired from culture shock, and homesick. Nevertheless, they continue to plant their feet firmly in their new homes and remain to share with these precious lost people. They remind us of Ruth. They are not returning home.
Today, take time to pray for God to encourage the missionaries you know and give these missionaries fruit for their labor. Don’t know any missionaries personally? Then pray for these:
NAMB
William and Teresa Johnson
Janet Morrison
IMB
*J
*P
*M family
(*Names withheld for security reasons.)
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14-15
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7
What familiar words! Most of us think of these words as marriage vows. However, these words are an entreaty from a daughter-in-law to her husband’s mother. Ruth desires to go with Naomi. Commentaries suggest Ruth had become a follower of the one True God and wanted to continue to worship and serve Him and serve Naomi.
In verse 16, Ruth says “Don’t urge me…” This word ‘urge’ in the Hebrew can mean to push against, rushing someone with hostility, desired request be granted (Key Word Study Bible (NIV), page 1543). We might wonder if Ruth felt the hostility in Naomi’s words of returning home and was pleading with her to stop the hostile words. Ruth was not going back to Moab.
These words could remind us of missionaries all over the world. With their lives, they make these words their vow as they minister to these people. However, as they pray and minister to lost people all over the globe, they pray our God becomes their God. Many times these missionaries are discouraged, tired from culture shock, and homesick. Nevertheless, they continue to plant their feet firmly in their new homes and remain to share with these precious lost people. They remind us of Ruth. They are not returning home.
Today, take time to pray for God to encourage the missionaries you know and give these missionaries fruit for their labor. Don’t know any missionaries personally? Then pray for these:
NAMB
William and Teresa Johnson
Janet Morrison
IMB
*J
*P
*M family
(*Names withheld for security reasons.)
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14-15
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7
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