RE:flect
Though many people in the Bible attribute their blessings and their curses to God--that thinking isn't endorsed by heaven. Have you ever felt desolated, empty, barren, abandoned? Naomi loses a husband (hard, but normal), then two sons (certainly not normal). She is in pain, distress, hopelessness. Then she hears that God is doing something "over there". She chooses to go and play the odds for a better life. The scene is set for this book. The author is creating a great story. The God is Israel isn't against Naomi at all, he is for her, providing for her, working for her. And we will see it happen...
RE:act
Sometimes we can get into a mindset that our failures are God working against us. Or that "that church over there" is really where God is at! Sometimes I suppose that could be true (He disciplines those he loves, his children). More often we need to recognize that we might have dug our own pit, or.. its LIFE! And yes Grandpa was correct, "life isn't fair". That is no surprise to God. And he is the God who reclaims, revives, and doesn't work for "fairness" but for grace in a world without grace, a world that isn't fair. Will you join him today, will you be a part of those who bring grace to a world that is lesser, harder, and just not fair?
RE:ply
Lord, I pray today for myself. That I can look beyond my circumstances. That I will not blame you for what you did not do. Forgive me for being so quick to point, and slow to see the obvious.
Lord, my school, my neighborhood, even in my church there are those who don't see the world the way you do. they do not know the reality. Help me to expose your truth to them; truth of love, truth of grace, truth of compassion, truth of redemption, truth of salvation.
Lord, I pray also for my family. For the hard times that are ahead of us. When that time comes, build us up now in love and unity so that we do not blame you, or your people...
Lord, help me to mean it when I say "I await your salvation".
"Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." I Peter 5:5-7
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