Thursday, March 31, 2011

Ruth

Ruth is the name of my Grandmothers twin sister. When I was a child, I thought it was an ugly name. Before you throw stones, I know I'm not alone! I thought my Grandma clearly got the good name with Beth. But as I've studied the book of Ruth, it's become a dear name to me and I can understand why my inspiring Great Grandma May named her daughter Ruth.

There are portions and entire books of the Bible that make our hearts sing. They speak so personally into our hearts that we respond in a way that makes our souls cry out. Ruth is one of those books for me. I started pondering why that is. Ruth had a hard life. Ruth was left alone with a grouchy old mother-in-law. And what did she do? She loved her. She attached herself to her and followed her into an unknown land. She followed her into a relationship with the Lord. She left everything she knew, her family, her homeland, her gods and followed the calling God put on her life. And what did He do? He acted as her great Father. He took care of her. He provided for her. He gave her a Godly husband. He set her into a unique and special place, the lineage of Christ. God took her up out of a deeply humble place and called her up into another that made no logical sense. But it was God's logic. It was a high calling. Ruth heard and obeyed that calling.

How many of us feel God tugging at us, pulling at our hearts, pulling us forward? But we resist. It doesn't make sense. It might hurt people around us. It might damage our reputation. We might look... crazy, or worse, stupid. I'm raising my hand here. Are you? I'm guessing most of you are. Why do we care? Why do we let the fear of man outweigh the fear of God? I don't have it figured out. It is a battle I continue to fight. I aspire to be more like Ruth. Much like Ruth, God has called me out of humble, ugly beginnings. He has set my feet upon His path. He's calling me to move onward, to put one foot in front of the other and follow Him. Everyday, I'm just like a child... the one getting distracted by the things along the way, the birds calling out, the weather that's unpleasant, my feet hurt... and so on, and so on... God has unending patience with our childish behavior. But I'm pretty sure He's at least thinking along the same lines I would if it was my child acting this way; "Would you just COME ON already?! Don't you know I'm your Father and I love you and I have nothing but good plans for you?! Just TRUST me!!!" Oh, trust. Ouch. That's what it boils down to isn't it? Trust. Do you really trust the Lord with your life? Not just your death or your eternal life, but your earthy life too?

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil,
to give you a future and a hope.


It is my prayer that we would all be more like Ruth. That we would shed the things of this earth and lean into the things of God. That we would just obey. It's not complicated. We make it that way, but it's not really. It's a simple choice, do you really TRUST the Lord with your life?

An in depth and beautiful sermon series: Redeeming Ruth

1 comment:

  1. Funny how God works eh? He has been leading me through several things this past week asking me "do you really trust me?" "Really?". Why is it so hard to let go? I haven't answered that yet, but this post is just what I needed to hear.

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