God is Not Satisfied with JUST Lavishing on His Own, He Desires to Awe Them

Scripture: Ruth 2:20-23

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is our relative, he is one of our closest relatives.”  Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “Furthermore, he said to me, ‘You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.’ ”  Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids, so that others do not fall upon you in another field.”  So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

Insights:  We conclude this week with the reality God not only wants to provide for us, but He wants to do it in such a fashion we understand He is lavishing grace on us.  God, however, does not just stop with lavishing His provision and grace on us.  He goes one step further as well.  God also desires to awe us with His power and purpose.  Recall with me that Naomi’s interests were peaked.  After her interest was peaked, she asked questions.  When she heard the answer Ruth gave her, she then was awed by God’s wonderful love.  Remember with me the mental state in which Naomi was living when she returned back to Bethlehem.  She asked for the ladies to call her Mara because God had afflicted her.  She looked at her life as being that of a dead woman.  Upon hearing the news Ruth gives to her, Naomi states, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his kindness to the living and to the dead.”  Many presume the dead Naomi is referencing is her son who was married to Ruth.  Others, and I tend to fall into this camp, think she is referencing herself in that phrase.  Ruth is the one living and she is the one dead.  She can produce no more children.  She is older in life and has one foot in the grave as the old saying goes.  Yet, in spit of those conditions, God wows her.  She is in awe of His immense mercy and grace.  Beloved, we ought to live life in such a fashion we are eagerly anticipating God to do something marvelous.  He desires to awe us with His majesty and might.  We need to open our eyes to His great activity and love.  Praise be to the Lord!

Questions:

1. Are you able to recall the last time God awed you?

2. What was it about that moment that made it truly unique and God inspiring?

Prayer: Father, I request this day You open my eyes and help me to see You working in this world.  Help my heart to be tender enough to be awed by You.  Amen.