The Bitterest Battle - Ruth 1:13
Read:
“. . . the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!” Ruth 1:13
Reflect:
God is kind, but sometimes it doesn’t always feel like He is. Verse thirteen is Naomi’s parting address. Naomi is despondent, she can’t provide sons for her two daughters and there will be no more children for her, time is running out. She is alone, with no means of support. She blames God for all her pain. The hardest thing for her to feel is the kindness of God.
It’s the bitterest battle of all when we have reason to think that our choices have caused God to punish us. When we begin to believe that God is against us. Or worse, like Naomi, we begin to think God is punishing family and friends as much as He is us. That somehow we have brought the judgment of God on those around us. We must be aware of exposing our heart-piercing, diabolical and debilitating thoughts.
Our adversity is hard enough to get through without leveling additional groundless condemnation against ourselves. At the same time, with our unjust suspicion of God and the deep sense of disapproval, we are convinced it is coming from God as the result of our insensitivity to His very presence.
Always in the bitter parts of life, there is a healing spring. God is kind. Always. All of God’s ways are done in truth and are kind. God does not leave us to meditate only on the pain and His seeming absence.
So long as the cross continues to hold divine meaning for us, as long as we continue to believe it, the cross is the manifestation of the kindness of God to take on Himself our sins, scars, secrets, struggles, and shame. The cross stands as a living reality that God is not against us. As long as we continue to place our trust in Jesus the Christ, we will never be alone, or defeated by thoughts of condemnation. The cross says, here’s love not that we love God, but that He first loved us. The almighty God cares for us. He is kind.
Respond:
Today challenge your ideas of God being against you with the cross. Look at it, think of His payment for your life. Then read Romans 8:1 and shout.