Morning Devotional:
I love the story of Ruth and Naomi in the Bible. Theirs is a great story of tragedy and redemption, worthy of a movie in my opinion. We tend to gravitate toward Ruth, but I want to focus on Naomi for a minute because this was a woman who was not afraid to be real.
When Naomi left Bethlehem for Moab, her life was pretty good. She had a
husband and two sons, all was well. But tragedy would strike when the three men in her life died, leaving her and her two Moabite daughters-in-law desolate. Only she and Ruth would return to Bethlehem and upon their arrival, Naomi would not mince words when she explained her situation to the townspeople. In chapter one verse 20 she says, “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me, the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
Talk about being real! How would you react if you said hello to someone visiting your church on a Sunday morning and instead of the typical response of “I’m fine,” that’s what they shared? That is a no-holds-barred answer that says “Hey, life is not okay for me right now.” Honestly, I would be fumbling for a comeback on that one.
Do you know how God responds to those moments? He has this great way of
saying to us, “It’s okay. I’ve got this. I’ve got you. I have a plan that you have yet to see that is so much greater than you can possibly imagine. Just let me take the tough stuff from you and I will handle it from here.” We know what happened to Naomi, too. God turned her life around. Ruth would marry Boaz and Naomi would gain a son. She would gain a grandson, too and he would be the grandfather of King David and land in the lineage of Jesus.
To me, Naomi is perfect proof that it is okay not to be okay sometimes. You can
get real before God, knowing He will hear you and by His grace, turn your
situation around.
– Beth
Burning Question:
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “It was all a big misunderstanding?”
Bible Quiz:
Question: What was Aquila and Priscilla’s trade?
Answer: Tentmaking. (Acts 18:1-3)
Storytime:
Just one more thing…