WOMEN of CHARACTER: NAOMI Embittered……..from Ruth 1 First, a Quick Read: In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there…. When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there…..When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” “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.” So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law. .. Ruth 1: 1-2, 6, 19b-22a When You Think about It: You could be a devoted young mother who must watch her two-year-old child die slowly of cancer while you overhear other parents worry about their children’s scratched knees and bruised elbows. You could be a thirty-nine-year-old single woman who has served God faithfully for decades and has always longed to be married, only to watch your spiritually shallow twenty-five-year-old friend wed a wonderful godly man. Life isn’t fair. It’s full of injustice. Inequities hit us from all sides, prompting those wretched “I’m a victim” feelings. But Scripture present us with a view of life from the eternal perspective. This perspective separates what is transitory from what is lasting. What is transitory, such as injustice and injury, will not endure; what is lasting, such as the eternal weight of glory accrued from that pain, will remain forever. What could possibly outweigh the pain of permanent paralysis, the pain of a life of singleness, the loss of a child from cancer? Then greater weight of eternal glory. One day the scales of justice will not only balance, but they will be weighted heavily—almost beyond comprehension—to our good and God’s glory. –Joni Eareckson Tada All people, whether Christian or not, must be prepared to live a life of discomfort.— C. S. Lewis LOOK AT IT THIS WAY: Moab literally means ease. Bethlehem means house of bread, and Judah means praise. Naomi and her family, scared away by famine, left the land of God to go to the land of ease. They were hoping to find some relief from their troubles, unaware how costly life in Moab would be. Yet widowed, homesick, and alone, Naomi looked past their poor choices and saw a God who “deserved” all the blame. How easy it is to forget God’s face in the pleasant times, only to see His hand everywhere in the bad. CHARACTER CHECK: Bitterness is born when we hold on too tightly to the things—even the people—in our lives. Treasure every moment as a precious gift from God, but never claim them as a right. Goodnight........FB
Posted on: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 02:19:24 +0000
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