Take your eyes off the clock
Ruth 2:7”And she said, 'Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.' So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house."
Imagine that the world suddenly became simpler, cleaner, corrupt free, lust free, hassle-free, tension-free and debt-free! Imagine you don’t have to slog it out from morning till evening, at times the whole night for a living! Imagine then that the soft sun lit up a beautiful garden right in front of you! It sure sounds wonderful! On the contrary, we have illness to endure, uncertainty, angst, fear and delay lurking in every corner of our life. How do you survive those occasions? How do you make it through the transition? Let me give you an awesome Biblical character who survived the death of her husband, father-in-law and brother-in-law but still dared to hold on to her faith and move out to a new city to start afresh with her aged mom-in-law Naomi.
Ruth was a Moabite woman from an idol worshiping clan; yet, she chose to follow Naomi her mom-in-law, she did not become bitter or frustrated so as to leave her faith in Jehovah and walk back to the idols just like her co-sister Orpah; Ruth determined her heart to fight-it-out and follow Naomi. The two women had to travel several miles and reach a small town called Bethlehem, which is called the ‘House of bread.’ Let me precisely tell the situation the lonely women had to face with their own folks; though they had relatives their in Bethlehem, yet these poor women had to fend for themselves. Still Ruth did not think of going back but she endured the pain and loneliness. She now had to find a job to fill two stomachs – that included that of her mom-in-law Naomi.
Ruth entered the field of Boaz and worked very hard from morning till evening so that she could glean enough of grain for both of them. Let me pause here and speak with you! Where do you find God in this difficult scenario? Here is a woman from an idol worshiping clan who takes a spectacular stand for God, leaves behind her home town, own folks at home, and walks away from everything to follow an elderly woman; yet we find God not working super-fast miracles by taking her into a palace! Why does God sometimes work slowly? Friends, we may not have answers to all questions, but I can tell you one thing, God keeps molding us until we are ready for God to fulfill all that is planned for our life. Let us patiently follow Him and take our eyes off the clock! God first prepares the vessel so that it could hold the blessings without getting puffed up! Are you listening?
Faith is not knowing what is ahead of you but walking and trusting God to take you to the right destination. We have to fill our heads with Bible verses and meditate it day and night so that we do not allow negative thoughts to scare us. When the devil whispers, ‘you are no good’, ‘God has forgotten you’, you loudly declare, ‘He will never leave me nor forsake me.’ You cannot fight the enemy that is discouraging you if you are browsing the Facebook and killing time, instead of spending time with God and His Words. Let this message speak with you! Come out of lethargy! When was the last time you spend one hour in prayer? When was the last time you spend an hour reading His Word with fasting? Christians who do not read the Word or pray and still daringly blame God for their problems, this attitude remain opaque to me. No pain no gain.
God bless you!
