Thursday, April 3, 2008

SCRIPTURE OF THE DAY: Ruth 1:1-18

PSALM OF THE WEEK: Psalm 18:1-19

HYMN OF THE DAY: #420 “I Come with Joy” http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/i/i032.html

 

VERSE OF THE DAY: “Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” Ruth 1:16b NRSV

 

Ruth’s famous statement to Naomi is one of faith.  She had faith in her mother-in-law and, more importantly, in her mother-in-law’s God.  It was certainly a faith that paid off, as her great-grandson, David, would become the great king of Israel (see Ruth 4:17).  Yet, scholars tell us that this book rose to prominence during the purge of gentiles in the Ezra era (see Ezra 9:1-9 and Nehemiah 13:23-30).  It served as a reminder that David (and of course, later, Jesus, [see Matthew 1:5]) was a descendant of a gentile woman of great faith.  The message was that we should not be too quick to judge or condemn others.  God uses the unlikeliest of people to do God’s will and we should not get in the way of that.  That is still a message that needs to be heard today.  Too often people are quick to judge and say “God could never use ‘those people’” when, in fact, God can and will.  In Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s time, it was the “mixed breed” people they thought God couldn’t use, but God had already used one named David.  In our time, it is other groups that get labeled, but we need to put aside the labels and realize that God has a place for everyone.  Our job is not to judge whether God will use someone else, but to let God use us however God wants to.

 

PRAYER: O God of All; help me not to judge other’s benefit to you, and not to be put down by other’s judgment of me. Instead, let me do your will and let you use me to show your love to everyone else. Amen.

 

See you in Church Sunday,

Pastor Sandy

 

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