Rehab therapy is usually VERY challenging. I have heard many say a person’s relationship with their rehab therapist is a love/hate relationship…because they usually want you to do things you don’t want to do! However, the therapist knows if you don’t do those things that are hard to do or are painful -- you will not fully recover. So, the therapy seems hard and full of pressure – but to get where I want to be, I need to do what my therapist has told me to do.
We will experience those kinds of pressure points in daily living all the time! Our response is often looking for relief from the pressure point – any way possible; however, to get relief from the pressure point we usually need to do what we don’t want to do. When experiencing pressure points, we must continue walking in the light!
Walking in the Light (3:1-2)
Ruth 3:1 uses the phrase “shall I not.” Naomi tells Ruth that she wants to seek rest for her. Naomi wants to find Ruth a husband … specifically, their kinsman Boaz – who has shown himself attentive to Ruth and her needs – would make a great hubby!
Naomi’s original wish…Ruth 1:9 – “The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.”
God’s Specific Instruction…I Tim. 5:8 – “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”
God’s Stated Will…I Tim. 5:14 – “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”
Some have come to me through the years panic stricken because they were not married yet, and the clock was ticking! They were so burdened and VERY serious. They had been looking for a mate everywhere they could think of and nothing was working. Everything was motivated by “I must get married!”
Naomi was not just “wedding crazy.” Naomi wasn’t just wanting to get rid of Ruth. Naomi was wanting to do right…her motive was pure!
We can do spiritual things for the wrong reasons. We must be certain our motive is right before God – just as much as we must be certain our actions are right before God!
The next phrase that Ruth 3:1 uses is “may be well with thee.” The Bible speaks of this same phrase in application to several things. Consider these:
Obedience = “well with thee”
Deut. 4:40 – “Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, forever.”
Hard Work = “well with thee”
Psa. 128:2 – “For thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.”
Discerning Judgment = “well with thee”
Jer. 22:16 – “He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the LORD.”
Ruth has shown obedience to God in going to glean in the fields. Ruth has delivered much hard work. Ruth has shown good judgment in coming to the fields, good judgment with Boaz in the fields, and good judgment in following her mother-in-law.
Naomi wants a more permanent “well with thee” for Ruth; however, Ruth couldn’t have come to this time of decision without prior decisions of obedience, hard work, and good judgment!
The longer lasting “well with thee” solutions that we all want usually come with the smaller “well with thee” choices we make each day! We often want the more permanent solution; however, the Lord wants faithfulness and trusting Him in the smaller areas before He brings us to the bigger answers of prayer.
Here is the gospel! God gave the eternal “well with thee” solution – forgiveness of sin and a home in heaven by Jesus taking the punishment I deserve. God also gave the temporary “well with thee” solutions all throughout His word: obeying the will of the Father, the incredible labor of earthly ministry, and the good judgment during strong temptation in the wilderness (to name a few). Have you received the gospel? Are you living the gospel? Gospel receiving must be followed by gospel living!
4 Daily Choices of Gospel Living
…take a look at these daily choices you are already making. They are more important than you think!
1. Treating all humans as God’s creation.
The Lord created he and she. He didn’t create a white race first, then other races as inferior. We are all equal at the cross. We are all sinners in need of forgiveness. The reality is – we are all the same race…just different shades of the same color! For those who are still trying to wrap their minds around this very hot issue…what shade of your color do you think Jesus was when he came to this earth? Clue: it most likely wasn’t “white,” but more likely a much darker skin tone, given the region He was born (Gen. 1:26-17; Col. 3:10; Jn. 15:12).
2. Good interpersonal relationships begin at home.
If you treat family like seconds, and friends or even strangers like kings and queens, you have missed the target. Study Ephesians 5:18-6:4 to understand the roles God assigned to the family unit.
3. Hard work applies to spiritual disciplines as well as physical labor.
The efforts you put in here is spiritual work and has great dividends! Consider these examples:
o My thought life isn’t an accident (Phil. 4:8)
o My words are the reality of my thoughts (Prov. 18:21; James 3:5-10)
o My prayer life is the mirror of my trusting God (Matt. 21:22)
o My time in the Word of God is an indicator of my true love for the One who wrote it.
4. Living with good judgment as a reality.
Good judgment is lived as I understand truth from the Bible; however, good (or right) judgment will be received from the One who is truth. (Rom. 2:1-5; 14:12; II Cor. 5:10).
Are you waiting for God to bring forward the big solution – the longer lasting “well with thee?” You see, we want God to change our situations, but God wants to change our heart.
Gospel receivers must grow up to be gospel living! Perhaps God is waiting for you to walk with Him in the everyday “well with thee” exhortations… before He reveals the longer lasting “well with thee” solutions. This is what He saved you to do while still on this earth! He freed you from sin through His shed blood. He demonstrated real love…sacrificial love…extravagant love – For. You. – For Me.
How do you respond to His love?