How do you view God? How do you view him when life doesn't go as YOU planned? I don't know about you but when my life takes a turn that I don't like, I don't exactly make lemonade out of lemons.
I struggle with this. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, his Holy Spirit lives inside of me. When I asked Jesus to be my Savior and Lord of my life, the Holy Spirit immediately indwelt me. God promises in his Word in Ephesians 1:13-14 that he will never move out:
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him,were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
He's here to stay (Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 3:24).
I'm doing a Bible study this summer with some of the sweet moms from the girls' school. We're studying Ruth. While I am studying our last section about the conclusion of this Old Testament book, I am struck by the immensity of God's grace and mercy.
Naomi is an Israelite woman married to Elimelech and they have two sons. Because of a famine in their land, they decide to move to Moab, a place God forbids his people to have anything to do with. Deuteronomy 23 says Israelites are to never befriend a Moabite. Verse 3 says "No Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, even down to the tenth generation" (emphasis mine). And yet these people of God move to Moab and their 2 sons end up marrying Moabite women!!
Once in Moab, Elimelech dies, and 10 years later his two sons die too. Naomi is left with two Moabite daughters-in-law. Naomi hears that the Lord has provided food for his people back in Bethlehem so she and her daughters-in-law prepare to move back. Along the way Naomi tries to convince the girls they needn't go with her. Perhaps she was worried about what her friends would say back home when they found out her sons had married whom God had strictly forbidden them to marry. Perhaps she was angry at God and just wanted to be left alone. The Bible doesn't explain her reaons. One of the woman decides to return to her family in Moab while the other, Ruth, promises to follow Naomi wherever she goes.
Naomi's arrival back home creates quite a stir in the town. Her friends are excited to see her back. She adamently states that no one is to call her Naomi (which means "pleasant" or "lovely") but rather, "Call me Mara [or "bitter"], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?" (Ruth 1:20-21)
Naomi's outburst clearly blames God for all that has happened to her. I tend to do that, don't you? I'm quick to blame God for making my life difficult. And then I struggle with my response to him. As a believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit I should be living according to the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit as listed in Galations 5 should exude from me: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. So why then do I get so impatient with my kids? Why am I easily irritated by the drivers on the Tollway who are in my way? Why do I struggle with pride and selfishness? Why am I quick to blame God when little and big things get seemingly out of contol?
The story of Ruth concludes with a wonderful, God-fearing man name Boaz eventually marrying Ruth thus redeeming her from her past. God blesses them with a son and, surprisingly, the book of Ruth concludes with a blessing on Naomi. Here is a woman who declares that she is changing her name to Bitter. Life's events cause her to blame God because it seems he's been unfaithful to her, his child. And yet, through this redemption that God so intricately orchestrated, Naomi is blessed. I love what Naomi's friends say to her, the same women whom she yelled at upon arriving in Bethlehem. This is in chapter 4:14-15.
Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.
And the best part of all is that King David is Ruth and Boaz's great grandson making Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, a descendant of Ruth. Isn't that beautiful?
God in his infinite mercy and grace blessed Naomi who didn't deserve it. I love what Kelly Minter says in our Bible Study workbook: "But grace stuns our theories and carefully constructed notions of how things should go. It blesses those who don't deserve it ... and sets glory in the bosoms of once-forsaken widows."
I take comfort in knowing God blessed Naomi because just like her, I'm unworthy of him. I do not deserve his grace and mercy any more than she did. I'm unworthy to be called a child of God and yet, 1 John 3:1 says, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God."
God specializes in unmerited favor and I'm forever grateful that he forgives my impatience and angry outbursts and selfishness and pride. Nothing I do will take his love from me. I'm his child forever. Praise the Lord!
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