By David ReayMonday 27 Apr 2015LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Ruth 1:6-9,16-22
6 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living,and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah.
8 But on the way,Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law,”Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye,and they all broke down and wept.
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16 But Ruth replied,”Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go,I will go; wherever you live,I will live. Your people will be my people,and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die,I will die,and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her,she said nothing more.
19 So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem,the entire town was excited by their arrival. “Is it really Naomi?” the women asked.
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead,call me Mara,for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. 21 I went away full,but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?”
22 So Naomi returned from Moab,accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth,the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring,at the beginning of the barley harvest. (NLT)
Our lives are filled with endings that lead to beginnings. Indeed there cannot be a new beginning without a prior ending. Jesus’ own death and resurrection is one example. Good Friday led to Easter Day,death led to life. Another example is this story of Ruth. A sad and even bitter ending in Moab resulted in a new beginning back in Judah. Bitterness turned to gladness. The end was a new beginning.
It doesn’t always look like that at the time. We might have to be dragged kicking and screaming from our present situation into the new season God has for us. We might mourn our ending in such a way that we are blind and deaf to a new beginning.
Heed the words of the writer Parker Palmer: “On the spiritual journey…each time a door closes,the rest of the world opens up. All we need to do is to stop pounding on the door just closed,turn around-which puts the door behind us-and welcome the largeness of life that now lies open to our souls.'”
Blessings
David Reay