DON’T PANIC! INSTEAD PRAY!
Things go wrong for us when we mistakenly step out of the will of God. However, God still draws us back to a better end.
The account of Ruth’s marriage to Boaz in the Bible is indeed a beautiful type of Christ and His marriage to the grafted in Gentile church. Because of a famine in the land of Bethlehem/Judah, Elimelech took his wife, Naomi, and his two sons to dwell in the land of Moab. This proved to be a bad decision. Despite the possibilities of a better life among the Moabites as far as physical wellbeing was concerned, tragically everything went wrong.
The Moabites were pagan, idol worshippers. Abimelech died in the land of Moab and left Naomi a widow with two sons who eventually married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Sadly, for whatever reason, the two sons died leaving Naomi.
Perhaps Naomi and her husband had not sought God for direction. Perhaps they had not waited for the Lord and instead taken matters into their own hand. How easy it is for us to do the same thing. Naomi confesses in Ruth 1:13: “The hand of the LORD is gone out against me.”
Both her and her husband had got off course with God. They had been well off when they left Israeli borders. She mentions in Ruth 1:21: “I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty.” Naomi pleads with her daughters-in-law to return to their own families and not to travel with her back to her home for she knew there was little hope for them to find husbands in Israel.
Somehow she had got news that “the LORD had visited his people in given them bread” (Ruth 1:6). I am sure by this time she wished she had stayed in Israel and stuck it out through the famine. Moving away is not always the right choice when things go wrong. Instead, when things go wrong, don’t panic and run. Stay and pray.
2 Chronicles 7:14 states: “If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Be encouraged.
Colin Campbell
About the author
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://aboverubies.org/