This past week, I was reading in the Book of Ruth and God began to show me some things that I have  never seen or paid attention to.  Although primarily about Ruth and Boaz, the “kinsman redeemer” and the obvious images of what Christ has done for us, God caused me to focus on Naomi and her situation. The book opens with the words, “…there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and sons, went to live for a while in the land of Moab.”  Pretty innocuous stuff, but we see later that the man dies, and later his sons die leaving 3 widows in desparate straits with nothing, but each other. What seemed to be a pretty good idea, on the surface, turned into a really rough place. Naomi hears that God has come to the aid of His people and is providing food for them. It is at this point in the story that the Holy Spirit began to reveal some very pertinent things. Verse 7 of chapter 1 says, “…she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.”  I’m sure this will be a multiple part post, so let me just start with a couple points of interest.

1. As most Christians are aware, the name Judah means “praise.” The Holy Spirit began to download to me that,  just like Naomi, we sometimes leave the place of praise due to “famines” in our lives. The situation for Naomi must have been pretty bad because they left their home, their extended family, their inheritance and moved to a place that was number one on the “most hated neighbors” list.

It is amazing to me that when we get hurt, are spiritually dry, or go through difficult times in our lives, we tend to blame these things on “God not caring.” It is in these moments that we run away from the only “place” that has the ability to lift us up and encourage us. David said that when he was down, he would encourage himself in the Lord.

2. When the “grass looks greener on the other side of the fence,” you generally find out that isn’t greener it is just different or if it is greener it is because it is over a septic tank! In fact, the greener place ends up bringing more junk into our lives. We find ourselves waking up one day wondering how we got into this mess and how did we get so far from our destiny.

3. It is in these times that God, in His mercy and grace, reminds us that He still comes to the aid of His children and provides food. Naomi, even though she would be going back without anything, decided that a “low place” in the favor of God…Judah (the place of praise), was better than the place that she was in. David said in Psalm 84:10 NIV “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”

4. Naomi set out on the road that would take her back to the place of praise. The road back home may be long, may be short, may be straight or may be winding. But, it doesn’t matter what the road is like…going home starts the same for everyone…you have to “set out” by putting one foot in front of the other.

Here are some questions to ponder…

Where do you find yourself “living” today? The land of praise or the land of Moab?

Have you found yourself asking,”How did I get here…so far from “home?”

What is the first step that you need to take to get you started in the right direction? Are you willing to take that step?

 

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 3:55 pm and is filed under House of His Presence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.