Archive | October, 2008

Choices

31 Oct

Orpha, Ruth and Namomi
Orpha, Ruth and Namomi

We are, each of us, faced with choices.Some are the simple daily choices we make almost without thinking.Others have the potential to be life-changing.All of them, I think, need to be made prayerfully.

The story of Ruth in the Old Testament is the story of a young widow who made a choice that not only changed her life, but gave her a unique place in God’s plan for mankind.She chose to leave all that was familiar to her and follow her mother-in-law, Naomi, to a country she did not know.In making that choice she also pledged her loyalty to Naomi’s God. Her words have become familiar to most of us:

“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. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
Ruth 1: 16-17

The beautiful story unfolds in the book of Ruth. You may read it there. I want to focus on the choices Ruth made to serve both the Lord and Naomi. As she walked in obedience, the Lord was there working out all the details of Ruth’s extraordinary story. It was not by chance that Ruth went to the field of Boaz to glean. Nor was it coincidental that Boaz happened by while Ruth was working there and was drawn to her. How “lucky” that the nearer kinsman did not want to marry Ruth – leaving the way clear for Boaz to claim her as his bride.

Before long Ruth gave birth to a baby boy, and this is where the story takes on epic proportions. It ends with, of all things, a genealogy:
“Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse and Jesse the father of David.” Ruth 4: 21-22

The humble Ruth was to become the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king – David. She also became a part of the lineage of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We are no different than Ruth. If we could just catch a glimpse of what the Father is doing in our lives we would be astounded. We may not see great miracles on a daily basis, but He is there nonetheless working in and through the daily events of our lives. If you are His child, there are no coincidences in your life. He is working all things together for your good. Our part is to prayerfully make wise choices that will put us in the place of greatest blessing.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29: 11-13 (NIV)

Promises, promises…

30 Oct

 There has not failed one promise that He has promised. 1Kings 8:56 nkjv

Yesterday afternoon I turned on my computer to find an email I’d been anxiously expecting from a publisher. I had submitted my book proposal at their request, the month before. The letter began, “I’m sorry to say that we’re not going to be able to pursue this book.”

I was disappointed. I shared with my husband my discouragement. I even went on to tell him how I’d really thought I’d heard God speak to me when he gave me a promise last year in Psalm 45:1 “My heart overflows with a good theme. I recite my composition concerning the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” It seemed to me that God was confirming what I would write, I would speak about. The theme overflowing from my heart was the captivity of activity and the bondage of busyness. So why had my book proposal on the subject been rejected? During my time with the Lord this morning He answered this very question.

After reading in Genesis, in Matthew and my Psalm for the day, I opened up my Streams in the Desert devotion book. The verse for today, “There has not failed one promise that He has promised.” 1Kings 8:56 I underlined the words that spoke loudly, almost shouting at me from the pages, “Someday we shall understand that God has a reason in every NO which he speaks through the slow movement of life. Somehow God makes up to us. How often when his people are worrying or perplexing themselves about their prayers not being answered, is God answering them in a far richer way.” I went on to read, “When did God take anything from a man without giving him manifold more in return? Suppose that the return had not been made immediately manifest, that then? Is today the limit of God’s working time?”

Friends, our God is the great promise keeper. What promises has God given to you? He is not bound by our time, twenty four hours in a day, or our twelve months in a year. He is working them out in his own time. He has not forgotten, not a one. Keep the faith. Trust him. Stand on His words to you. Pray them back to God reminding him that you are waiting patiently for them to become manifest in your own life.

 

When the frosts are in the valley,

And the mountain tops are grey,

And the choicest buds are blighted,

And the blossoms die away,

A loving Father whispers,

“This cometh from my hand”;

Blessed are ye if ye trust

Where ye cannot understand.

 

If, after years of toiling,

Your wealth should fly away

And leave your hands all empty,

And your locks are turning grey,

Remember then your Father

Owns all the sea and land;

Blessed are ye if ye trust

Where ye cannot understand.

Remember friends, you are blessed.

Psalm for Sadness

29 Oct

I’ve been on a rocky path lately where I just feel so down and depressed. Do you ever feel like no matter what you go through it doesn’t seem like you’re getting anywhere? Yep, I know just what that’s like.  When I feel like this I remember the death of one of my old friends who passed away at the age of 23 from Cystic Fibrosis. At her funeral the priest read out this verse and it’s become one of my favourites:

Psalm 23 – A psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Isn’t that beautiful? When God is our leader we don’t wish for anything else. He gives us such peace that it feels like we’re lying by a pebblebrook stream or in a quiet meadow. When we feel like we’re broken and on our own His words and love are always with us. When we’re having problems with people who don’t like us God blesses us. When we live with God His love is always with us.

What an awesome verse and what awesome assurances from God!

← Previous Entries

AWSOM Powered