Seeing the image and likeness of God

 Read Ruth 1

In the life of God’s people, the Book of Ruth looks at a time after the exodus from Egypt and before the time of kings.  This was the time of the judges.

Government was more tribal. A unified Israel wasn’t really a thing at this point. God’s people were trying to do the best that they could, but mostly they were a loose association more than they were a confederacy or syndicate of tribes.

So the stories of God’s Chosen People vary a little from tribe to tribe, but this one deals with the tribe of Judah.

There had been famine in the land and so a man named Elimelech and his wife Naomi headed to Moab with their two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. The sons took wives, Orpah, and the other Ruth. We see no children of these unions.

Realize that these two women had been pagans. They were part of Moab. Moab came from the line of Lot and his oldest daughter after they had escaped the destruction of Sodom.

Later on, in the time of kings, Moab would revolt against Israel. That means that Israel would later have some leverage over Moab as they had required tribute from them, but that’s after the time of the judges, most likely from the time of David.

The women are central in this story. Why? All the men died.

Naomi’s husband died and then their two sons died.  This family consisted of 3 widows, one Hebrew, and two Moabites.

Things had gotten a little better back in Judah so Naomi decided to return home. She told her daughters that they would be better off remaining in their own country. The chances of them finding a husband among God’s Chosen People were slim.

Orpah chose to remain. Ruth chose to go with Naomi in spite of her mother-in-law’s counsel.  Ruth was determined. And so, early in this short book, we come to words that are still powerful today. Listen to what Ruth said to Naomi.

Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried.

Those are some defining words.  Where you go I will go. Your God will be my God.

There is a little more to the chapter that we discussed in the first service, but let’s look at these words of the Moabite widow named Ruth.

How does someone make that sort of commitment?  Why make that commitment?  How well did Ruth know this God of Israel and of Naomi?

I think from her last comment in this section, she at least knew he was the one true God. She had a little fear of the Lord working in her.

If I don’t follow my mother-in-law and her God, then I deserve whatever consequence or punishment that God will give me.

This was prompted by:

·       Weekly Bible studies with Naomi

·       Faithful attendance at the Synagogue

·       Naomi had given out over 1000 God Loves You wristbands

Or, we just don’t know.  We don’t know what it was that caused one daughter to seek after this woman and her God and the other to be content to stay in her pagan homeland. We don’t know.

We can speculate all we want, but we just don’t know what influenced Ruth to go with Naomi and to make this bold commitment.

And that lack of information will be the basis of today’s charge and challenge to you.

You don’t always know what impact you make on those around you.

You might not have all of Psalm 100 memorized, but people see you coming into God’s house with thanksgiving and praise.

You may not have reached that point where you can put all of your trust in God without any anxiety, but you are leaning hard into Proverbs 3:5. People notice when you trust God more than most.

You might not know all of the scripture addresses about God being love and his command to us to love one another, but people see you loving your neighbor on a regular basis.

You may have never held a Bible Study in your home, but people know that you go to God’s word for your answers. People see God’s word judging the thoughts and attitudes of your own heart instead of you judging them.

Maybe people see none of these things. Maybe they see some or all, but you are who you are and God sees the heart.

If your heart is genuinely seeking the Lord, I proffer that people will see a genuine likeness of God in you.

I will note that I do not think that it was Naomi’s bubbling attitude and personality that influenced Ruth to go with her.

Naomi was in something of a funk. She was in a poor, poor, pitiful me mindset. God was out to get her. He was punishing her for something. She did not feel like she was living in God’s favor.

And yet, God used her to bring this pagan widow into not only the land of Judah but into the line of David and ultimately into the line of the Christ.

So today, consider all that you do and realize that the Lord can use it for good. We may not know exactly how our actions impact others, but we should keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and let God use us as he will.

We have to trust that God has good plans for us. He wants to prosper us and not harm us.

We don’t always know exactly what those plans are. Sometimes we do, but often we don’t get the whole picture.

Sometimes, it just seems like life is tough for us and we don’t see what impact our lives might have on others.

Sometimes the good that God uses the circumstances and events of our life for, are also for the good of someone else. Something or some mannerism or some practice in Naomi’s life made a difference in the life of Ruth.

We don’t know for sure what it was.

Those times or events or practices may not even be noticed by us, but God is using something in our lives for the good of others. We often only think of ourselves as we consider the good that God does in our lives.

Let’s consider that God uses our lives to do good in the lives of others even when all we can see is how tough our lives are. So, what do we do?

Keep on keeping on.  We keep on doing what God is calling us to do knowing that one day there will be a harvest and our efforts will have counted for something.

We walk by faith not by sight. We trust that what God has called us to do is exactly what needs to be done.

So Naomi did what she thought best. She counseled her two daughters-in-law to remain in their pagan land where they might have a chance of getting another husband. In Naomi’s own understanding, this was the best course of action.

But God…   Yes, it’s one of those but God deals.  God had other plans, which we know from experience to be good plans.

God chose a pagan girl, a widowed pagan girl, to be in the line that led to King David and ultimately to the Christ. That’s a little farther into this short book, but things move quickly in this story.

God is very much at work in our world. He is at work in you. Something working within you is working on someone else.

Yes, like it or not, we are the light of the world and salt of the earth. We don’t always know how our light and salt impact others, but God does.

And once again, we must trust God with all of our hearts. We must draw nearer to him. This is not just for our own good, but for that of others.

If God could use those pagan Romans to be the instrument by which Christ would make his sacrifice, can he not use you—you who believe and profess Jesus is Lord!

If God could use the pagan Pharoah to show his glory in the land of Egypt and for those all around to know what he was doing for his own people, can he not use us to help liberate those enslaved by apathy and ambivalence today.

If God could use a giant, pagan, uncircumcised Philistine warrior to bring the one who sought after God’s own heart into the forefront of men, he can and will and does and is using us. Goliath’s role was short-lived, but he surely put this ruddy shepherd boy center stage before the army of God’s Chosen People and the pagan Philistines.

We will talk more about the times—this story took place over a thousand years before Christ came as God in the flesh.

We will talk more about the faith of a few and the faithlessness of many, and surely you will make connections to our time when so many continue to fall away.

We will talk more about the false god of Moab, knowing that we have many more false gods in our time than in any time past.

So, we will look at some of these as we continue through Ruth, but today, consider how important your choices and actions and your life are to God and to others.

You matter.

Your choices matter.

Your attitude matters.

Your thinking matters.

You can make bad choices or your thinking can be a mess and God can and will still use you, but we should know that we matter to God and our lives are the vehicle by which some will come to know God.

When you are seeking God before all things, don’t be surprised when people see the image and likeness of God within you.

You may be the very vehicle by which someone sees the image of God. You may be the only person who ever truly demonstrated love in the life of a certain person.

You might be the one who is bringing hope—God’s hope—to someone ready to throw in the towel on life.

God may be doing great things through you and you might just be oblivious to it if we only think and pray about ourselves. So keep on trusting. Keep on trying. Keep on praying. Keep on loving. Keep on living for God.

Keep on keeping on. Be open and available for God to work in your life to reach others.

Amen.

Descendants of Esau

 Read Genesis 36

Read 2 Kings 3

It’s easy to preach about the descendants of Jacob, who we know as Israel.  That’s who God gave the Promised Land to and that’s who the Law of Moses would come through.  That’s who would spend over 400 years as Egyptian slaves.  That’s the line through which the Christ will come.

But what do we do with the descendants of Esau?

Let’s look at a couple of places where we see them in our Bibles.  One is when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Edom denied those who were with Moses passage through their land.

The harmonious reunion of Jacob and Esau had somehow given way to this less-than-hospitable state of affairs. The Israelites had to take the long way around, but they would take 40 years to enter the promised land, so maybe it was no harm, no foul.

Let’s look farther down the road to a time after Solomon and when the Kingdom of Israel was a divided kingdom.  This will come from 2 Kings 3.

The King and the land of Edom was involved, though the message of this passage is mostly about Israel.  It is interesting to see that both Judah and Edom allied themselves with Israel in this endeavor. The descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Esau unite in this effort.

Moab owed tribute to Israel. It was a big annual payment of 100,000 rams and the wool of 100,000 sheep.  That’s a big-time payment.

When the king of Israel—Ahab—died, Mesha, the king of Moab, decided to test his successor.  Ahab was succeeded by his son, Joram. How did he test the new king?

Moab stopped the tribute.  How would this new king respond?

We are told that Joram did evil in the sight of the Lord, but he wasn’t as bad as his parents.  Now there’s a bullet to put on your resume.  At least I’m not as bad as my mother and father…

Joram wasn’t going to let Moab’s insubordination pass.  He rallied the support of the kings of Judah and Edom and set out to make war with Moab.  That’s what you did when somebody didn’t pay their tribute.

That was politics long ago.  When you defeated someone in battle or just had the upper hand on them, you wanted to keep it that way.  Those were the politics of the world probably until the end of WWII when the United States introduced the Marshall Plan.  After that, it was profitable to lose a war to the U.S.

Let’s get back to these 3 armies marching toward Moab.

Now to get to Moab, you had to cross a lot of desert.  After a week, there was water for neither man nor beast. You want to see an ancient army or a modern army come to a halt?  See what happens when there is no more water.

You can have diesel fuel and ammunition galore, but if you are out of water, you are not going to defeat anyone.  In fact, you become a very vulnerable target for your enemy.

The king of Israel asked, has God called us together just to let Moab kill us?  Evidently, Joram had some regard for the one true God.

It seems that there wasn’t a logistician among them who would have figured out this water problem before embarking on this campaign, but there was a prophet.  Elisha was summoned by King Joram. 

Elisha didn’t care for Joram.  He was still doing evil, even if he wasn’t as bad as Mom and Dad.  He told Joram if it wasn’t for King Jehoshaphat, he wouldn’t give them the time of day.

In fact, Elisha told Joram, why don’t you just seek a prophet from those who worship false gods, like your parents did?  You have to love Elisha’s directness and lack of tact in dealing with these heads of state.

Because the King of Judah was there, Elisha agreed to seek God’s direction.  He needed a harpist.  There are a lot of unanswered questions here.

Why was Elisha going on this trip?

Why wasn’t he summoned before Israel decided to declare war on Moab?

Why does an army run out of water but happens to have a harp and a harpist available?

Those are rabbit trails for another day. Elisha got his music and delivered directions from the Lord to the kings.

He said to have your men dig ditches—trenches if you will.  You will not see a cloud or a drop of rain, but God will fill these ditches with water and deliver your battle with the Moabites to you.

In today’s world, the leaders would have just asked for another prophet.  This one is bonkers.  Get me one that won’t cause my army to rebel.

Why would the army rebel?  They are out of water and you want them to dig ditches. You can imagine that the army is in hunker-down mode, seeking shade, and conserving what water they still have in their bodies.

But the kings did as instructed and ditches were dug.

The next morning water began flowing from the direction of Edom and it filled all of the ditches.  There wasn’t a rain cloud to be seen but the ditches were filled and the army—man and beast alike—was replenished.

If you have ever gone by Lake Lugert—the one by Quartz Mountain State Park—you have seen what I am talking about.  The lake will be down.  It doesn’t rain anywhere in Greer County but somewhere miles and counties away, the rain falls and heads south to fill the lake.

Those ditches--dug in the heat of the day when the army was already out of water--were filled.

Now Moab got wind that the armies of 3 kings were headed their way.  You have to figure if you don’t pay the tribute that you owe, there might be someone headed your way to make you change your mind.  I would expect that Moab had some scouts out looking to see if trouble was heading their way.

So early in the morning, the army of Moab approached the encampment of these invaders.  It must have been about sunrise and the armies of Israel, Judah, and Edom must have been sleeping in because the encampment did not appear to be well guarded. No activity was detected.

The sun hit the water in such a way as to make the ground appear red like blood.  The Moabite commander assumed the 3 armies had fought each other and that most everyone was dead.

All that was left now was the plunder.  The Moabites could claim the spoils of war without having to win a major battle. The men were turned loose to claim the spoils from the battle they never fought.

The problem was that the soldiers of the 3 armies were not dead.  They were watered and rested and ready to fight.  They easily defeated the disorganized Moabites and quickly turned this victory into the first of many and the 3 armies went into Moab and destroyed anything of value and fouled the land.

God had delivered Moab unto Israel, Judah, and Edom.

The battle was won not in the early morning but in the hot sun when the men were out of water but the ditches were dug.  The battle was won by faithfully following the instructions of the Lord delivered by his prophet.

This was a story of faith.  Think of ordering your very thirsty army to dig ditches in the heat of the day with no rain clouds in sight based upon words that came from a prophet who didn’t like you.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Genesis 36 is about the descendants of Esau, some of whom were involved in this story of faith. Some of these descendants claimed victory over the Moabites delivered by God through their faithfulness.

The descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Esau would share in this victory because they were faithful to the command of the one true God.

The lineages had separated.

Geography separated the people of Jacob and the people of Esau.

In this moment, faith in God united them in victory.

How do I connect this with our present situation? 

Faith is always connectable to your situation, but the lesson here is that God may call us to do something where we cannot connect the dots.  He may ask us to dig ditches in the heat of the day without a cloud in sight.

What do we do?

Trust in the Lord without all our heart.  Lean not on our own understanding.  In all our ways acknowledge him. Take the path that he gives us.

What do we do?

Break out our shovels and start digging. Trust that God delivers on his promises.

When God tells us to do something and our own understanding tells us that he is crazy, we do what God tells us to do, even if it’s digging ditches in the hot sun when we are completely out of water.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Keep your shovels at the ready.  We might just have some ditches to dig this year.

Amen.

Cave Living offers few choices for Young Ladies

 Read Genesis 19

So Lot and his 2 daughters were spared the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the surrounding area.  They were safe in the town of Zoar, but Lot decided that small-town living was not for him, so he headed to the mountains—the very place that he told the angels he could not go—he would not survive there.

We don’t know why Lot thought he couldn’t go to the mountains.  He just said that this disaster would overtake him.  In any case, Lot went to the mountains and found a cave to live in.  We can’t call it a man cave because his two daughters were with him.

These are two young women old enough to bear children who are now living with their father who was ready to turn them over to the townspeople to sexually abuse them, and they are living in a cave in the mountains.

Could life get any better?

Apparently, they don’t have any neighbors.  If you are a recluse, you might think this was the ideal home.  If you were 2 young ladies, you might think this was the end of the world.

What to do?

Venturing out on their own was probably dangerous.  The chances of finding anyone in right standing with God were slim to none, leaning heavily to the none side.  They would find someone to take them in for sure, but as servants or slaves or concubines at best.  Striking out on their own was not an option.

Apparently, dad was not interested in moving back to town.  They would have to come up with some other course of action.

What they came up with seemed to originate in Hollywood.  The two daughters would get dad drunk and then the older will have sex with him and conceive a child.  The younger daughter could take her turn the following night.

Both succeeded in becoming pregnant.  Can’t you hear them saying, “I love it when a plan comes together?” Apparently, dad was none the wiser as to how it happened. The girls would have their babies but that family tree wasn’t going to branch for a while.

So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

So the older daughter gave birth to a son who would be the father of the Moabites, a people and a land that would include Zoar, the small town where Lot would not live.

The Moabites were pagan.  In fact, they had many gods, but did not know the one true God.  Moab appears several times in the Old Testament.  They were generally hostile towards Israel but apparently permitted some people to come and go freely.  The first part of the book of Ruth is set in Moab.

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

There were only pagans in the land and the two sons took two local women as their wives.  Naomi’s husband died as did the husbands of her daughters.  Naomi decided to head back to Judah and Ruth went with her.  There was a discussion that ensued about this not being a practical course of action, but it brought us to this statement by Ruth.

“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

I have a little less about the Ammonites.  They were pagans and generally hostile toward Israel.  They lived mostly east of the Jordan.

We do have the story of their origins, as deplorable and repulsive as that story seems to us.  What can I say?

Girls, don’t try this a home.

Parents, maybe the guy with the nose ring and misspelled words on his tattoos isn’t that bad.  Consider the choices that Lot’s daughters had.

Those were a little tongue-in-cheek, but not entirely. What can I say?

God’s favor was poured out on a few people (we know this favor was because of Abraham being in right standing with God), only three of whom obeyed God and survived the destruction of Sodom. 

That salvation was from God. How they lived in the favor of the Lord was on them.

We have received the favor of the Lord in the blood of Jesus.  How we live in response to this incredible gift is on us.  We call that response discipleship.

Our job is not to look for people to condemn.  That’s not why we have this story. We don’t need to jump on the condemnation bandwagon. Everyone is already living in condemnation if they have not received Jesus as Lord.  We don’t need to add our pointing fingers to that situation.

We do need to live in grateful response to the mercy, grace, and favor of the Lord.

But what about these 2 girls?  Check the box that you have read that part of the story.  Know the origin of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples when you come across them in your readings.  Know that those raised in a pagan culture are not anchored to it. Contrast Lot’s daughters with the story of Ruth.,

Most of all for us, do this when our circumstances seem dire.

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.  You are blessed to know there is so much more to the story of God’s relationship with humankind than these two girls in what seemed to be a hopeless situation.

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

Amen.