My Delight

"That's what love does. It puts the beloved before itself. Your soul was more important than his blood. Your eternal life was more important than his earthly life. Your place in heaven was more important to him than his place in heaven, so he gave up his so you could have yours."- A Love Worth Giving, Max Lucado.

Ruth and Naomi. I just can't seem to get those two off my mind these days. What a picture of sacrificial love. So if you don't know the story, basically, in the book of Ruth we read that Naomi, the mother, loses her husband, then loses both her sons. Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah now find themselves living their lives in a culture that dismisses widows leaving them poor and vulnerable. Naomi has no other sons to offer as husbands to the young women which would have been culturally expected. Dwelling in Moab, none of them have extended family to help them in this time of loss. Naomi, in her despair and consideration for her daughter-in-laws' well-being, encourages both Ruth and Orpah to return to their "their mother's homes" that the Lord might bless them with another husband. While this was certainly not the wrong thing to do, Ruth, unlike her sister-in-law, refuses but insists, "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 ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."(Ruth 1:16-17) Ruth was insisting not only to move forward with her mother-in-law, but to also worship the Lord.

Their feet barely hit the ground of Naomi's family, when Ruth, full of hope and expectancy says, "Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” She sees the opportunity before her and understands that it's really an opportunity for God to show up in it, but it requires her stepping out. Do you get that there's not even a splinter of doubt? She looks to the physical authority in her life for permission to walk out the vision she has with total expectancy of finding favor. There's order in the process and as every door is opened she walks through it saying, "...I will find favor." It's not fanatical. It's faith-filled. With confidence, she hits the field and starts gathering the leftovers in the field. Catch that? She was in need... provision was provision even if it was leftovers. There's no pity party. There's no self-entitlement. There's not even pride.

Ruth 2:8-12 records the results as such, "Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” 11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. 12 The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

Are you providing for another? Caring for the weak? Supporting the poor? "Don't grow weary in doing good, for in due time you will reap a harvest."(Galatians 6:9)

Matthew 6:1- 4 says,“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you [a]openly."

In the face of adversity, loss, and hardship, Ruth personifies selflessness. Not once in scripture, do we see her respond to her new reality with disgrace, pity, or hopelessness, rather she boldly intends to press on and selflessly move forward with her mother-in-law. This could potentially mean never having another husband, never having children. Naomi tells Ruth to go on back with Orpah as she returns to her people and her gods. With Naomi's eyes completely focused on their void, not having husbands, she is in complete despair unable to look beyond the immediate for the coming provision. She even goes so far as to change her name to Mara meaning bitterness, because "the Almighty has made my life very bitter." She cloaked herself with the emotion of the moment that could potentially become her identity for a lifetime. Bitterness. This is who she is now and she has set about to allow that bitterness to proceed her in all things. Every time she introduces herself to someone...Bitterness. Every time her name is called...Bitterness. Every time she is mentioned in conversation... Bitterness. The Lord called her Naomi, "My delight," but she goes by Bitterness. Life happened. As it does. She chose to go from "My delight" to Bitterness.

Are there relationships or areas in your life that leave you feeling dismissed, rejected, vulnerable, and needy? If so, that is not your new name. It's not who you are. Your identity. Who you are does not change with the shifting of circumstances of life when you are rock-solid grounded in the One who does not ever change. You are His delight, dearly loved and fought for. He goes before you in all things. He is your Kinsmen Redeemer. You see, who He says you are is what is true about who you are regardless the emotions that rise up, the needs that are unmet, or what the culture says. You are never dismissed by your Heavenly Father who knows every hair upon your head and bottles up the tears you shed. His ear is turned to you and He hears the cries of your heart. He is for you and not against you. You are His dearly beloved, the one He shed His blood for. The same reckless love that drew Him to the cross is still today desiring to draw you near to Him. Turn from sin that beckons your heart to leave all that is true and calls you to dwell instead in hopelessness and unbelief. Repent and draw near to Him. His plans for you far exceed anything you could ever ask or imagine, though they are not promised to come without difficulty. Trials will come as they may, but be still and know He is God.

May you find yourself looking more like Ruth recognizing hardship as a place for your Kinsmen Redeemer, Jesus, to show up and grant favor over your life. May bitterness forever be washed away from your heart that it may never take root and life-giving, selfless love replace it. May you go forward rejoicing in who He is, in His great love for you, and in what He says about you!

Worship Him! He is worthy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIaT8Jl2zpI , "You say," Lauren Daigle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc6SSHuZvQE, "Reckless love," Cory Asbury

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Ephesians 4:31-32

 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Hebrews 12:15

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;

James 3:14

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.