{"id":24871,"date":"2023-01-20T22:00:35","date_gmt":"2023-01-21T05:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ruth-1_1-13-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-01-10T21:49:15","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T04:49:15","slug":"ruth-1_14-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ruth-1_14-22\/","title":{"rendered":"Light in the Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ruth 1:14-22 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Ruth\u00a01:14-22.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ruth 1:14 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse\u00a014: \u00a0Orpah and\u00a0Ruth\u00a0were both completely within their rights to go back to their own people after their husbands had died.\u00a0 Orpah did nothing wrong by leaving especially after Naomi had told her to do so.\u00a0 But God was doing something extraordinary in\u00a0Ruth’s heart.<\/p>\n

Ruth 1:15-18 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But 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.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the\u00a0LORD\u00a0deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-18: \u00a0Ruth decides to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi, go back to Naomi’s home country of Israel, and even adopt Naomi’s people and God as her own.\u00a0 All of this is incredible when you consider that:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0It was her\u00a0mother-in-law<\/em>! \u00a0(I’m kidding.\u00a0 A common stereotype is that a mother-in-law can be a “monster-in-law”.\u00a0 But the truth is that I’m blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.)<\/p>\n

–\u00a0Ruth\u00a0probably would have had a much easier life if she had just stayed in her own country of Moab.\u00a0 In Moab she had her family, her friends, her connections, her culture, and her language. \u00a0 She would have had an easier time getting remarried in Moab if she wanted to.<\/p>\n

– The Israelites considered Moabites like\u00a0Ruth\u00a0to be their mortal enemies.\u00a0 In fact, do you know how the nation of Moab was born?\u00a0 According to Genesis 19:36-37, Lot, the granduncle of Jacob (later known as Israel), slept with his own daughter and gave birth to a son, whom they named Moab.\u00a0 Since that time on, the Moabites were at odds with the Israelites.\u00a0 For example, in Numbers 22-24 the king of Moab hires a sorcerer Balaam to curse Israel.\u00a0 In Judges 3:12-30, the Israelites and Moabites are at war with each other for many years.\u00a0 In Deuteronomy 23:3 it said that a Moabite was not allowed to enter the Lord’s assembly in Israel.\u00a0 Even though Israel had laws regarding taking care of foreigners, there was a good chance, given the acrimonious history between Israel and Moab, that a foreigner like\u00a0Ruth\u00a0would face some cruel treatment and discrimination in Israel.<\/p>\n

Despite all this, amazingly\u00a0Ruth\u00a0commits to going with Naomi.\u00a0 We don’t know for sure what her reason was.\u00a0 Maybe\u00a0Ruth\u00a0was concerned for Naomi’s well being even more than for her own.\u00a0 Maybe it’s because\u00a0Ruth\u00a0and Naomi had a special relationship that\u00a0Ruth\u00a0didn’t want to lose.\u00a0 Maybe she saw something in her mother-in-law, who worshiped the LORD, that she didn’t find in her own people of Moab.\u00a0 For whatever reason, when you consider how the book of\u00a0Ruth\u00a0ends, it is clear that God was working in\u00a0Ruth’s heart.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from all this?\u00a0\u00a0Don’t rule someone out just because they come from a background or culture that is different from yours, or even a culture that has had conflicts in the past with your own.<\/strong>\u00a0 What matters far more than a person’s background is a person’s heart.<\/p>\n

Ruth 1:19-22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I went away full, but the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The\u00a0LORD\u00a0has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 19-22: \u00a0Here’s a powerful lesson my wise wife Sharleen shared with me on these verses.\u00a0 Notice that Naomi is obviously still grieving the loss of her husband and two sons.\u00a0 She says 3 times in chapter\u00a01\u00a0that God has made her life bitter and full of misfortune (v13, 20, 21). \u00a0 No one can deny that Naomi had suffered incredible loss, but it’s also true through she also received incredible blessing such as an amazing friend in\u00a0Ruth.\u00a0 At this time Naomi was only focused on her problems, complaining about everything that was wrong, and even blaming God, saying “God has made me empty and I’ve got nothing.” (v21)<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 In a time of loss it is important to grieve and to have a support network (including God and people).\u00a0 But\u00a0when you’re going through tough times, beware throwing a pity party for yourself.<\/strong>\u00a0Otherwise you will only make it harder for yourself.<\/p>\n

Are you so focused on the problems that you’ve taken for granted God’s blessings? Even in our most difficult situations, let’s choose an attitude of gratitude because there are always blessings to thank God for.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the powerful lessons we can learn from today’s passage.\u00a0 I pray that I would stay loyal to the right people and choose an attitude of gratitude, even in the most difficult situations.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is\u00a0Ruth\u00a01:14-22.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

Ruth 1:14 (NIV)
\n14\u00a0\u00a0At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.<\/p>\n

On verse\u00a014: \u00a0Orpah and\u00a0Ruth\u00a0were both completely within their rights to go back to their own people after their husbands had died.\u00a0 Orpah did nothing wrong by leaving especially after Naomi had told her to do so.\u00a0 But God was doing something extraordinary in\u00a0Ruth’s heart.<\/p>\n

On verses 15-18: \u00a0Ruth decides to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi, go back to Naomi’s home country of Israel, and even adopt Naomi’s people and God as her own.\u00a0 All of this is incredible when you consider that:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0It was her\u00a0mother-in-law! \u00a0(I’m kidding.\u00a0 A common stereotype is that a mother-in-law can be a “monster-in-law”.\u00a0 But the truth is that I’m blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24871"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24874,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24871\/revisions\/24874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}