Ruth 1:1-22
As we walk with Naomi and Ruth the Lord is teaching us some beautiful principles in His Word.
V 16: “And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”
What a beautiful proclamation from Ruth. This is what the Lord needs from us. Our walk with the Lord cannot begin without a definite decision that we want to leave our old land behind and go into the new land. We cannot try to stand with our feet on both plains. We have to choose old life with sin or new life with Jesus.
V22: “…and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.”
Barley was the first of the crops to be harvested. The beginning of barley harvest was the beginning of the new season’s harvest. When you make a decision for the Lord you come into His land with a new beginning. We come into the Lord’s land in a new season with new fruit. The coming to the Lord will always signify newness of life and also the harvest will be new. The fruit you bear will be of the new fruit. You no longer bear fruit of the old man. So always look at the harvest in your life. Is it the barley harvest? Or are you still harvesting old crops from the old land. Then you have to turn back and enter into the Lord’s land. That is where you will harvest the new crops.
V20: “And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”
Naomi is a beautiful picture of the Church. The Lord also brought His church into the new season to bear His fruit. The True Church of the Lord is the church which looks afflicted to the outside world. The Church of Christ will look like an old lady to the world. Maybe slow and hurt, but it is the fullness inside that count. Let us not try to make the Church into something that is appealing to the eye but lacks the power of God. The afflictions of this world are what will make the Church return unto the land of God and keep us there. That which looks old and cripple to the outside is what has the power on the inside.
Let us then remember Naomi and Ruth as we press on for the Lord.
Rene Welgemoed
As we walk with Naomi and Ruth the Lord is teaching us some beautiful principles in His Word.
V 16: “And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”
What a beautiful proclamation from Ruth. This is what the Lord needs from us. Our walk with the Lord cannot begin without a definite decision that we want to leave our old land behind and go into the new land. We cannot try to stand with our feet on both plains. We have to choose old life with sin or new life with Jesus.
V22: “…and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.”
Barley was the first of the crops to be harvested. The beginning of barley harvest was the beginning of the new season’s harvest. When you make a decision for the Lord you come into His land with a new beginning. We come into the Lord’s land in a new season with new fruit. The coming to the Lord will always signify newness of life and also the harvest will be new. The fruit you bear will be of the new fruit. You no longer bear fruit of the old man. So always look at the harvest in your life. Is it the barley harvest? Or are you still harvesting old crops from the old land. Then you have to turn back and enter into the Lord’s land. That is where you will harvest the new crops.
V20: “And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”
Naomi is a beautiful picture of the Church. The Lord also brought His church into the new season to bear His fruit. The True Church of the Lord is the church which looks afflicted to the outside world. The Church of Christ will look like an old lady to the world. Maybe slow and hurt, but it is the fullness inside that count. Let us not try to make the Church into something that is appealing to the eye but lacks the power of God. The afflictions of this world are what will make the Church return unto the land of God and keep us there. That which looks old and cripple to the outside is what has the power on the inside.
Let us then remember Naomi and Ruth as we press on for the Lord.
Rene Welgemoed
