My parents are my heroes. For the past 30 years, they have been involved in equipping and training local pastors around the world. They love their job and they instilled in me a desire to seek only after Christ and to find exactly what I was made to do in this world. My dad recently asked to write a few devotionals for my parent's ministry. Below is the first of several. The thoughts are not different from what I've written on here before but these will be translated into Spanish and I just wanted to have them out (in the world?) in English so that I could as least understand them.
The book of Ruth begins with a tragedy. Famine, death, and barrenness start an unlikely story of two women, Ruth and Naomi, who have lost everything. With no husbands and no sons to provide for them in the middle of a famine, they are left with limited options. They are widows – women God has seemingly afflicted, who will no longer be anything but a burden to those who chose to help them.
The book of Ruth begins with a tragedy. Famine, death, and barrenness start an unlikely story of two women, Ruth and Naomi, who have lost everything. With no husbands and no sons to provide for them in the middle of a famine, they are left with limited options. They are widows – women God has seemingly afflicted, who will no longer be anything but a burden to those who chose to help them.
Scripture talks a lot about widows and their fate. God gave Israel clear instructions on how to take care of them (Exodus 22:22, De 14:29, 24:17, 26:12). The first recorded disagreement in the New Testament church concerns neglected widows (Acts 6:1). As the church, we are commanded to take care of widows and orphans (James 1:27). The call on us to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves is clear.
But the story of Ruth is about a widow who takes care of others. Through Ruth’s unfailing love and loyalty toward her mother-in-law we see God’s unfailing love and loyalty to His children. Ruth, a foreigner, finds herself as the sole provider for her sorrow-stricken mother-in-law Naomi. With no prospects for her future, Ruth, a barren widow, becomes the unlikely person by whom God chooses to show a great story of His unfailing love.
God loves to use the people we deem unusable for His glory. The people in life we tend to place on the sidelines are the very people God moves to act for His purpose. He uses the weak to reveal His strength.
I’m continually reminded of this truth in my life when I am confronted by my own inadequacies and my own weaknesses. God demonstrates His grace and compassion through broken vessels. People like Ruth and Naomi. People like you and me.
Whether we are poor or rich. Talented or clumsy. From the highest family to no family. The best speaker or the worst. God loves to use the weak to show His strength. And by His grace, He chooses to use us. Take refuge in Him today and trust that He will use you in your weakness to demonstrate His great power. The very thing that you think may disqualify you from ministry might be the one thing He chooses to use to bring your friends, family, and neighbors closer to Him. Widow, orphan, insecure, poor, untalented people that we are. God’s redemption story has an unlikely place for all of us.
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