Despair and famine are opportunities for future joy

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18: It is often during dire times that you may look at your situation and feel hopeless, empty, weak and at your most vulnerable.

During that time, you must not judge your future and its potential by what you are experiencing; do not become burdened by that current reality.

Instead, you must press through the present pain and fully grasp the future joy that lies ahead, because that feeling of despair presents an opportunity for joy to fuel your strength.

In the Bible, Ruth found herself in the same situation. She had become a young widow with no children to comfort her grieving soul.

Ruth, I am sure, had imagined of a life of love and a home filled with children.

Yet, she was experiencing times that were totally contrary to her dreams.

During challenging times, the key to making right decisions is to do the godly thing during times of plenty. Ruth did just that.

Ruth 1:15:
And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.
16: And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.
17: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
18: When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.

Here are a few things that Ruth did during the good times, which enabled her to outlast the bad.

• She let go of her false gods and built a relationship with the only living God.

Ruth had to let go of the ideas that she had been raised with, and recognize what she had come from was a mere counterfeit to what God had for her.

That could not have been an easy thing to do, for she had to admit and accept that those things that her own biological parents had taught her were false.

How many in Bermuda have been told that God is not real and that church is a waste of time?

One of the fundamental tragedies of our times is that the youth have not been given an opportunity to refuse God. Far too many have not even been exposed to the church house because of the issues of their own parents.

Ruth was allowed another opportunity to experience the only true and living God. It changed her life for the better.

• She honoured her mother-in-law, Naomi.

Even though Ruth did not serve Naomi’s God, at the beginning of the relationship, Ruth honoured her mother-in-law, and was able to glean from her lifestyle. She saw that prayer and worship unto God was real and that it was fruitful.

• She began to model her life after Naomi’s ways.

Whenever you have a person who is honest and of  integrity, you have someone you should want to model your life after.

When Ruth began her marriage, she had another god. Yet, there must have been something lacking for her to admire the relationship Naomi had with her God. 

Ruth saw something that worked and felt something real. Even though she had grown up in a different culture, the presence and purpose of God in Naomi’s  life was the change agent.

Almost via spiritual diffusion or osmosis, she was transformed into a better person as she lived under Naomi’s influence.

The impact of the presence of God will cause you to refrain from turning back to what you were accustomed. So, when Ruth was given the opportunity to turn away from Naomi and go back to her homeland, she could not do so.

Though Ruth, Orpah and Naomi were experiencing a famine, Ruth could not allow that time of testing to cause her to fail at her newfound faith.

While Orpah left and returned to her own land, Ruth would not leave the side of the woman who had introduced her to God.

Let’s admire her ‘no turning back’ decision, which led to blessings abounding.

Bermuda, during your time of plenty, did you build a relationship with Jehovah Jireh? If so, prepare to outlast the famine and experience bountifulness.

Dr Maria A Seaman is the pastor of Shekinah Worship Centre, Hamilton Parish.