God Demonstrates His Love
click on link above to hear this amazing song
I love the new song above by Harvest Parker. The verse that captured the heart of this post was..
"Oh until you looked upon me, Your compassion was on me.
Oh until You looked upon me, Your mercy fell on me.
I was deep in sin, but your Love was deeper"
Before I begin, I just want to say.. This is yet another mind blowing concept that God revealed to my heart this morning.So get out your mind blown journal and get ready to record another mind blowing moment.
I just started studying the book of Ruth a couple of days ago. I was asking the Lord to lead me to a new story to study because I had been with Joseph for a long time and needed a change of scenery. I kind of feel like that's been what I have been asking the Lord to do with my life lately.. please give me a change of scenery. It has been a long 9 years of struggle and I'm ready for a change.. some hope.. for my story to not be one disappointment after another.
I believe the Lord heard the cry of my heart! We received wonderful news this week concerning my oldest daughter. She is starting a new chapter in her life and ready to receive healing for her heart! I am so grateful because I did not see this coming one year ago. What looked like another disappointing event has been crafted into a wonderful blessing. It is truly a gift from God.
This wonderful news came with the prompting to study the book of Ruth. As I began to study I was astonished by what I found. The main theme of the book is about how God works in the darkest moments of our circumstances. It shows us He is always working out the bad for our good, even when we give up, even when we sin. The book begins with disappointment after disappointment and leaves us thinking there can not be any hope for a good ending.
The beginning starts off pretty bleak. The death of Naomi's husband forces a move to a foreign land and results in the death of her only two married sons. She has lost everything and proclaims that the Lord has dealt bitterly with her. A famine comes and forces her to return back to her homeland. She tells her daughter in laws to go back home.. she has nothing left to give. One goes back and Ruth chooses to stay. I wonder why Ruth made this choice? Who would stay with someone who's life seemed to be peppered with suffering. She wasn't a believer, or at least not at first. Naomi believed in God but had retired to a life of bitter suffering. She was falling into the trap.. being a victim of her circumstances.
I wonder if she had blamed herself for the tragic events in her life. Some of her choices allowed her family to sin.. could this just be what she was required to pay back in return for her sin? Or, was God working in the darkest moments of their circumstances?
The story takes a wonderful turn towards hope. It shines through Ruth after returning to Naomi's homeland. She finds favor with Boaz, who redeems her. He sees Gods glory shinning through her humble heart. She finds favor with him because of the way she found refuge under the wings of God during her suffering. He notices the refined gold that God has forged with in her to become a woman of great dedication and strength. I could go on with the good found in this story, but for times sake we can visit this story another time. It ends with great hope.. a husband for Ruth and a son in law for Naomi. It also produces a son who brings us one step closer to Jesus.
Now, what I wasn't expecting to see was how God used sin to bring about His glory. There was major sin that occurred in this story when Naomi's son's married foreign women. It lead them to experience more death and a famine. This was considered a major sin in their time and could have been an explanation given by the Pharisee for Naomi's tragic life.
I then began to think of Joseph's life...
The sinning of his brothers forced Joseph into a life of slavery.
The sinning of Potiphers wife forced Joesph into a many years of prison.
The sinning of a cup bearer and baker kept Joseph in prison two year longer to surely kill all hope.
Where was God in all of the moments?
He was grooming a redeemer and working out salvation!
God sent Joseph ahead by means of sin to save his family and a nation.
Think about what happened at the cross..
God sent Jesus to the Cross by the means of sin.
Pontius Pilate sending an innocent man to the cross..
The Jews killing the Messiah...
One of the darkest times in the bible..
God was using sin to bring about Salvation!
It blows my mind..and reminds me again that God uses what the enemy intendeds for evil for our good and His Glory.
So, let this be a light of hope to you if everything in your life seems to be one disappointment after another. Remember what the Apostle Paul said..
I wonder if she had blamed herself for the tragic events in her life. Some of her choices allowed her family to sin.. could this just be what she was required to pay back in return for her sin? Or, was God working in the darkest moments of their circumstances?
The story takes a wonderful turn towards hope. It shines through Ruth after returning to Naomi's homeland. She finds favor with Boaz, who redeems her. He sees Gods glory shinning through her humble heart. She finds favor with him because of the way she found refuge under the wings of God during her suffering. He notices the refined gold that God has forged with in her to become a woman of great dedication and strength. I could go on with the good found in this story, but for times sake we can visit this story another time. It ends with great hope.. a husband for Ruth and a son in law for Naomi. It also produces a son who brings us one step closer to Jesus.
Now, what I wasn't expecting to see was how God used sin to bring about His glory. There was major sin that occurred in this story when Naomi's son's married foreign women. It lead them to experience more death and a famine. This was considered a major sin in their time and could have been an explanation given by the Pharisee for Naomi's tragic life.
I then began to think of Joseph's life...
The sinning of his brothers forced Joseph into a life of slavery.
The sinning of Potiphers wife forced Joesph into a many years of prison.
The sinning of a cup bearer and baker kept Joseph in prison two year longer to surely kill all hope.
Where was God in all of the moments?
He was grooming a redeemer and working out salvation!
God sent Joseph ahead by means of sin to save his family and a nation.
Think about what happened at the cross..
God sent Jesus to the Cross by the means of sin.
Pontius Pilate sending an innocent man to the cross..
The Jews killing the Messiah...
One of the darkest times in the bible..
God was using sin to bring about Salvation!
It blows my mind..and reminds me again that God uses what the enemy intendeds for evil for our good and His Glory.
So, let this be a light of hope to you if everything in your life seems to be one disappointment after another. Remember what the Apostle Paul said..
"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
Romans 15:4
God is always working.. He is always with us.. He is not afraid of your messy life .. He is not afraid of your sin. He is in the midst of your darkest circumstances working it out. Just keep hanging on to Hope because in His timing He will not disappoint you:)
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