Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

February 24
Tuesday


MANAGING
THE MESS

READ:
Ruth 1:15-22
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Why do you call me
Naomi, since the LORD
has testified against me,
and the Almighty has
afflicted me?
__Ruth 1:21
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When we meet Naomi in the Scriptures, her life is a mess. She and her husband had gone to Moab searching for food during a famine. While in that land, their two sons married Moabite women, and life was good--until her husband and sons died and she was stuck, widowed in a foreign land.

Though honest about her pain, Naomi obviously had a sense of who was in control: "The LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me" (Ruth 1:21).

The Hebrew word for "Almighty" (Shaddai) indicates God's sufficiency for any situation. The word "LORD" (Yahweh) refers to His faithfulness as the loving covenant-keeping God. I love how Naomi put these two names together. In the midst of her complaint, she never lost sight of the fact that her God was a capable and faithful God. And, sure enough, He proved His capability to deliver her and His faithfulness to care for her to the very end.

If there seems to be no way out of your despair, remember that Naomi's God is your God as well. And He specializes in managing our messes to good and glorious outcomes. Thankfully, He is both capable and faithful. So, when your life is a mess, remember who your God is! __Joe Stowell
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````````````````Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake```````````
`````````````````To guide the future as He has the past.````````````
```````````````Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;``````````
`````````All now mysterious shall be bright at last. __Von Schlegel````
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Stand back and watch the Lord manage your mess
into a glorious outcome

****************Today' Bible Reading __ Ruth 1:15-22*************

15 And she said, "Look,
your sister-in-law has gone
back to her people and to
her gods; return after your
sister-in-law."

16 But Ruth said: "Entreat
me not to leave you, or to
turn back from following
after you; for wherever you
go, I will go; and wherever
you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my
people, and your God, my
God. 17 Where you die, I
will die, and there will I be
buried. The LORD do so to
me, and more also, if
anything but death parts
you and me." 18 When she
saw that she was
determined to go with her,
she stopped speaking to her.

19 Now the two of them
went until they came to
Bethlehem. And it
happened, when they had
come to Bethlehem, that all
the city was excited because
of them; and the women
said, "Is this Naomi?"

20 But she said to them,
"Do not call me Naomi;
call me Mara, for the
Almighty has dealt very
bitterly with me, 21 I went
out full, and the LORD has
brought me home again
empty. Why do you call me
Naomi, since the LORD has
testified against me, and the
Almighty has afflicted me?"

22 So Naomi returned, and
Ruth the Moabitess her
daughter-in-law with her,
who returned from the
country of Moab. Now they
came to Bethlehem at the
beginning of the barley harvest.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

As a Moabitess (Ruth 1:22), Ruth was permanently excluded from
God's covenantal blessings (Deut. 23:3-4). But by the grace of
God through her faith in God (Ruth 1:16), Ruth became accepted
into the covenant community. She was also honored as the great-
grandmother of king David (Matt. 1:5-6) and an ancestor of the
Messiah (Matt. 1:1). __Sim Kay Tee