If you go there, leave a comment – a nice one!
I guess the thing that I really don’t understand is why
people can’t just be nicer to each other. What does it take to leave a comment
online about someone’s creative work? Right now I owe my friend Kevin Kraft two
reviews of his book “S” that I wrote about here in my post titled, “Emmanuel,”
but my excuse is that work has been crazy busy and stressful and I’ve been working a lot of
late nights and weekends, and I want to take the time to write a real review that has some depth to it. I’m planning on getting to his reviews
over the July 4th holiday, and even though I haven’t done it yet, I
am planning on it and it’s been on my mind as something that I need to do. I’m
not that nice a person – Jesus makes me much better than I am, but on my own I’m
very lazy and I like to do what I like to do, like read a lot and take long
walks. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if I can do these small and
simple but supportive things as lazy and selfish as I am with my personal time, why can’t everyone?
Yesterday morning the Lord gave me the Book of Ruth when I
was on the train into work. More specifically He gave me chapters one and two,
and I found myself weeping like I always do when I read that part of that story.
It’s such a beautiful story, and those chapters are for me some of the most
beautiful in all scripture. They’re very simple, almost like a fairy tale in
the telling. “Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that
there was a famine in the land . . . .” The Book of Ruth comes right after the
Book of Judges, and that’s actually where the Lord started me. At the end of
Judges there is a very un fairy tale like story, unless you think of Grimm’s
Fairy Tales in some of the more gruesome parts. After chapter after chapter of
needless killing and mayhem, the very end of Judges says this, “In those days
there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
(Judges 21:25) There was total mayhem, with everyone doing their own selfish thing, and then we come to Ruth.
When I looked up the name “Ruth,” I found a very interesting
website that discusses the story of Ruth and the origins of the name in Hebrew.
The link for that website is: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Ruth.html#.Uczdqp7D8cA,
and some of the things I read gave so much more meaning to a story I already
love. The website tells us that “there is no such word in Hebrew as Ruth,” and
it goes on to say that scholars have decided that it comes from a “rich root
group,” and then the article goes on to describe what that root group is. The
first one is from a verb to pasture, tend or graze – of course Jesus is our Shepherd, and
Ruth is the grandmother of David, directly in the line of Jesus. And Ruth
gleans in the field of Boaz, her kinsman redeemer, a type of grazing for
humans. Because she finds favor with Boaz, and he is truly her kinsman
redeemer, the story also echoes the redemption story of Christ with us.
The second
part of the root group means “to be a friend of” or a female companion or a
neighbor, but the description goes on to draw a parallel with the use of the
same word in Leviticus 19:18 where we read the command of God to “love thy
neighbor as thyself,” and also in Isaiah 34:15-16 where it is used to mean “mate”:
“The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her
young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each
with its mate. Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be
missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is His mouth that has given the
order, and His Spirit will gather them together.”
I had to take a pause there because the Lord is speaking
something very deep to my heart. There is a promise that he has made to me that
I have been waiting on, a promise about someone I love, and when He gave me Ruth
this morning, He started speaking to my heart then, and now He is confirming it
again. Thank you Father, thank you Lord. Thank you.
The third root means “purpose or aim,” and the reference is
given to Psalm 139:2, “You alone know when I sit down and when I get up. You
read my thoughts from far away,” and it also mentions that it is identical to
the word meaning “friend.” There is another derivation of the word that means “longing,”
and the reference is given to Ecclesiastes 1:14, “I have seen everything that
is done under the sun. Look at it! It’s all pointless. (It’s like) trying to
catch the wind.”
The book of Ruth, coming as it does right after all the
murder and mayhem and pointless misery of the end of Judges, shows kindness in such depth between
people that it brings light and hope into the world again. Ruth chooses to stay
with her mother-in-law after her husband, her mother-in-law’s son, has died.
They travel from the land of Moab where they have been living, and where Ruth
was born, to go back to Bethelehem where Naomi came from. Ruth leaves
everything behind her because she chooses to follow her mother-in-law Naomi,
saying, “Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your
people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” (Ruth 1:16) Ruth chooses to
stay with Naomi, though Naomi has nothing left to offer her. In fact, Naomi
says of herself, “Do not call me Naomi (meaning pleasant), call me Mara (which
means bitter), for the Lord Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went
out full and the Lord has brought me home again empty.” (Ruth 1:20-21)
The first thing that Ruth does when they are in Bethlehem is
offer to go out gleaning to get some food for them of some kind. She happens to
end up in a field owned by Boaz, who is a relative of Naomi’s, though Ruth does
not know that. Boaz looks kindly on her and not only allows her to glean in his
field, but he also protects her by ordering the men not to harm her or touch her in any way. He also
tells them to leave extra behind so that her gleaning is an abundant one. His
kindness is simply kindness. He has no other motive. She has found favor in his
eyes because he has heard how kind she was to Naomi. He says to Ruth, “It has
been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since
the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have
come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work, and a
full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have
come for refuge.”
When I read that passage on the train, I heard the Lord
speaking to my heart. My family is not born again, they are not even religious at
all in any way. In a way, when I was born again, I made a choice to leave them.
Although I am still a part of the family and I stay in touch with them, the way
we see life is so vastly different. When I was born again, I was sent to a
people I did not know – people who follow a God that my family never told me
about. When I read that passage I felt that the Lord was telling me that He
knows how difficult it has been for me to walk this walk with Him, and He is
telling me that He will not let me down because I have come under His wings for
refuge.
And this message is not just for me. That is the beauty of
the Holy Spirit and how the Lord will speak to many through one passage.
Whoever is reading this post, this message is for you too. That is how the Holy
Spirit works. You need to know that the Lord has seen your struggle, and He has
also seen what you have done for others. He has seen the tragedy and loss in
your life, and He knows the longing in your heart. Job says in chapter 19 verse
25, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the
earth.” Your Redeemer lives, He lives, He lives.
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
Wow! Creative and talented. Don't think I've ever been described that way before. And coming from a woman whom I admire so much makes it much more meaningful to me. Not only that you'd take the time to leave a comment but to also post a link in your blog!
ReplyDeleteI'll say it again, you are awesome! You're truly a blessing...
Jean