The reason I decided to write this blog--and the only reason for writing any blog--is to help us improve our own lives. And, as I was reading over the intro to the book of Ruth, I was struck by questions that I couldn't answer. Maybe you can. Remembering that Ruth had no idea that she was to become a part of the lineage of the Messiah when she made the decision to go with her mother-in-law Naomi, ask yourself: What would I have done, if faced with Ruth's choice? Would I have taken the easy way out and asked for help from my own people--staying in a familiar place where I felt safe and secure? And ask yourself: Right now, in my life, am I choosing the path that means no deep thinking, no added difficulties, no further action needed? I realize that I choose the easy way out most often because I'm already dealing with life itself, and I'm absolutely sure that's quite hard enough.
And you know that the way life works is that just when you think you've got all your bases covered, something unexpected happens, and you're unexpectedly trying to cover another base. This may even include other people, which moves things way out of your control. Oh, you don't like that at all! You may say: Why me? I try so hard to organize and plan, to declutter and give away those meaningless items, and keep myself on some sort of schedule. Now this unexpected thing has come along and I'm all out of sync. I know, I know...it's not as bad because I'm doing all the right things...most of the time...but it feels really jarring--and really irritating. Go to a foreign country and start over? I'm not sure at all that Ruth's choice would be mine. Why in the world did she make that choice anyway? Did she just feel a need for change? Was she running away from something? Or was it her belief in God?
The only way to answer some of the big questions is to study about people who made the right choices--not because they knew what the result would be, but because their trust was in God. And we should all ask ourselves occasionally where our trust is placed. Does the faith you profess show up in your trust in God? Whew! The questions may be too difficult to answer honestly in a short time, but answer them you must if you want to make Satan flee from you. There must be time for contemplation and assessment of where you are in your spiritual life, or Satan will fool you into making more work for yourself on the physical plane than you could ever finish. I have a sneaking feeling that just when we feel good about ourselves because our house is all clean and bright (a good thing, no doubt), Satan is feeling good about the way he maneuvered us into doing one more thing besides studying God's Word. I suppose this is where I must say that if you schedule time to study the Bible, you'll be there. And you won't feel that you're taking time away from shining your sink.
In any case, I'm going to study the book of Ruth and hope you'll look at it seriously as well. In my next blog, I'll do what I intended to do today--talk about the introduction to the book of Ruth. The elements are all presented, allowing us to see the working out of God's plan for the salvation of the world. Wow! That's amazing!
Blessings...Mimi
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