A Famine in the Land
Ruth Chapter 1:1-2
As the book of Ruth opens there is a crisis, a famine, which leads the family to leave their homeland. They leave Bethlehem-Judah [House of Bread & Praise]. Others had made similar journeys.
Were they looking for a geographical cure to avoid the difficulty of the famine? Did the grass look greener on the other side? According to the book, God Behind the Seen [page 25], it states that Moab was 50 miles away from Bethlehem. It would have been easy to see the green fields of Moab from the brown dusty fields of Bethlehem.
Green grass may look great from a distance but when you get an up-close look it may actually be weeds. Maybe Elimelech thought Moab was a great place to be to get away from the famine. It looked like a lush land which was rich in food as opposed to the dry land and lack of food in Bethlehem. Maybe Elimelech was only looking at the immediate rather than the eternal. Did he even discuss this move with God? God isn't even mentioned in the first few verses of Ruth.
Sometimes we too look for that geographical cure to our circumstances. We figure if that if we could just get away from the situation then things will be better. Maybe it's a new job, a new house, a new city, etc. where happiness can be found. We don't consult God in these matters. We are driven by our own desires to get out of the circumstance. Unfortunately, it only brings a change of location not a change of person. My mother has always said, "Wherever you go, there you are".
Some lessons we can learn from Ruth 1:1-2
As the book of Ruth opens there is a crisis, a famine, which leads the family to leave their homeland. They leave Bethlehem-Judah [House of Bread & Praise]. Others had made similar journeys.
- Abraham went to Egypt [Genesis 12]
- Isaac to Philistia [Genesis 26]
- Jacob to Egypt [Genesis 46]
Were they looking for a geographical cure to avoid the difficulty of the famine? Did the grass look greener on the other side? According to the book, God Behind the Seen [page 25], it states that Moab was 50 miles away from Bethlehem. It would have been easy to see the green fields of Moab from the brown dusty fields of Bethlehem.
Green grass may look great from a distance but when you get an up-close look it may actually be weeds. Maybe Elimelech thought Moab was a great place to be to get away from the famine. It looked like a lush land which was rich in food as opposed to the dry land and lack of food in Bethlehem. Maybe Elimelech was only looking at the immediate rather than the eternal. Did he even discuss this move with God? God isn't even mentioned in the first few verses of Ruth.
Sometimes we too look for that geographical cure to our circumstances. We figure if that if we could just get away from the situation then things will be better. Maybe it's a new job, a new house, a new city, etc. where happiness can be found. We don't consult God in these matters. We are driven by our own desires to get out of the circumstance. Unfortunately, it only brings a change of location not a change of person. My mother has always said, "Wherever you go, there you are".
Some lessons we can learn from Ruth 1:1-2
- Difficult times will come
- We can't do what we think is right in our own eyes
- We need to consult God about the circumstance
- A geographical cure will not always bring the desired change
- God is the one who can change us and help us in difficult times
- The decisions we make will impact those around us
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