C.S. Lewis wrote, “To walk out of God’s will is to walk into nowhere.”
The book of Ruth in the Bible contains the story of Ruth, a Gentile woman who married a Jew, becoming the great grandmother and King David, and, most importantly, helped to perpetuate the line of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The story begins with Ruth’s future mother-in-law, Naomi, fleeing a famine in Bethlehem and heading to Moab:
“In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.” (Ruth 1:1-2)
This seemingly unimportant section contains an essential truth in keeping with C.S. Lewis’s caution above: No matter how difficult our circumstances, the safest place to be is in the will of God.
Most bible scholars believe the famine was an act of divine judgment for Israel’s disobedience. But instead of waiting for God’s direction and provision, Naomi and family ran to the enemy territory of Moab.
An enemy that:
– Had attacked them on their journey from Egypt to Canaan;
– Had invaded and ruled over them for 18 years;
– God describes in Psalm 60:8 as His wash pot, a picture of a humiliated nation washing the feet of the conquering soldiers.
The father of the Jewish nation, Abraham himself had made the same mistake in Gen 12:10 when he encountered a famine and fled to Egypt instead of waiting for God’s direction and provision.
What’s the lesson, you ask?
When trouble comes we can approach it in 3 different ways:
1. Endure it – where trials can become our master and we can become bitter
2. Escape it – where we may miss the purposes God wants to achieve in our lives
3. Or…Enlist – where the trial becomes our servants and works for us to bring about our good and God’s glory. (Romans 8:28)*
*From Wiersbe’s New Testament Commentary
