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“No matter what difficulties we face, His grace and love never fail. He heals, restores, and blesses us.”
Stella
Worship
Word
“Call me Mara” (Ruth 1:20)
‘Mara’ means ‘bitter’ and Naomi claimed:
“The Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi [‘Pleasant’/’Lovely’]? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
Ruth 1:20, 21
This was a settled belief on her part for earlier she had told her two daughters-in-law,
“It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
Ruth 1:13
The more we think about it there are so many examples in Scripture of “bitterness before blessing.” The whole story of Joseph and what he went through before finally,
God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household … God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.
Gen. 41:51-52
And think of all the years of slavery even “bricks without straw” for the people of Israel (Exodus 5), before finally the Lord freed them from 400 years of slavery. When Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), do we have to come to the place of ‘nothing’ before we realise this? When God says to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9), was it when Paul was very strong, or very weak?
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor. 12:10
How many barren women have been signally used by God after years of barrenness? And look what the Lord expects of them in their barrenness, to
Sing … burst into song, and shout for joy.
Isaiah 54:1
God Almighty, (‘El Shaddai’) was
“associated … with God’s cosmic rulership”
Robert Hubbard
and by nature was great and mysterious but ultimately the One in whom we should dwell and find rest (Ps. 91:1).
Naomi is so focussed on her troubles and keeps emphasising her “empty” state. Yet, positively, she has not attributed these events to chance but everything is from God,
“In her view, there was no other force in the universe.”
Robert Hubbard
Others have similarly accused the Almighty e.g., Moses – Ex. 5:22; Num. 11:11; Elijah – 1 Kings 17:20; and yet such were preludes to great blessing. And don’t we see this time and time again, in the Scriptures and in life (see what Hannah went through before the great blessing of giving birth to Samuel 1 Sam. 1:1-20). Is this the result of living in a fallen, sinful, broken world in which real travail in prayer and in life has to take place to bring about the sovereign purposes of God? Also, are we able to rejoice in the Lord and praise Him continually through it all?
Quote of the week
“A religion that is small enough for our understanding would not be big enough for our needs.”
Corrie ten Boom
Verse of the week
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Ps. 91:1
Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, in our walk with You there are things that we don’t understand about the why’s and where-fore’s of it all. In such times help us to trust in You, not with blind faith, but with faith in our precious Lord, Saviour, and Friend who sees all, and all things, Amen.