Impact!

Impact!

‭Ruth 1:16 KJV‬

[16] And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

Today's verse has a background that is not quite palatable, but the lessons of this story are timely for us in this present generation. We see two women who had been hit by life's challenges; both had lost their husbands, with Naomi suffering double jeopardy by losing two sons too. She left the town of Bethlehem to go to the land of Moab, because there was famine in Bethlehem. She left with a husband and two sons, but came back with none of them. The sons had married Moabite women, of which God had said that 'No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation'. If they could not enter into the congregation of the Lord, why would men of Israel marry them? 

The mistake had been made, but Naomi had to go back to Bethlehem. The two wives were faced with a choice: go back to familiar surroundings, which they had always known, or go back with Naomi to a God they had only known through Naomi, but who they were not under obligation to serve. From the verse above, it is clear that Naomi made clear who her own God is, and the wives knew about her God. Wherever it is I am right now, or whatever my life's situation may be, is God made known in and through me? Life may be happening to me right now, upsetting all the plans I had laid out, but can God count on me to make his name and purpose known to the world around me? Can people be attracted to the God I serve, by the testimony of my personal and public lives? 

Ruth had seen something of value in the life of Naomi, and she was willing to sacrifice her life in order to follow the God of Naomi. There was no guarantee that she would be accepted into the congregation of Israel, yet she pressed on. She had no idea what lay ahead of her, yet she pressed on. Naomi had nothing of value to offer her, except a place to live and a God to serve. For Ruth, that was enough. Whatever may be my past, God wants me to hand it over to Him, so He can give me a new start. As we know now, she who could not be accepted into the congregation of Israel by birth, became one of the grandparents of the human lineage by which the Saviour of the world was born. It pays to follow this God. He is the only one who can make beautiful vessels out of broken pottery. Give Him your life and watch Him do wonders with it. God's time of favour is here.