Daily Devotions

Ruth 1:1-3 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.

I want to look over the next few days at steps that take one from joy to bitterness. Here in Ruth chapter one we are introduced to a family, to Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons. Naomi means pleasant or pleasantness, and why wouldn’t she be. By all accounts she had a husband that loved here, three sons, a good home, she had all that she wanted. They also lived in Bethlehem, in Israel. For a Jewish woman at that time she had all that she could ever dream of having. But she also lived in the time of the judges, in a time when men did what seemed right in their own eyes and here in the beginning of this account her husband makes a terrible decision. Because there was a famine in the land Elimelech takes his wife and sons and goes to Moab, he leaves the land of his fathers, the land of his God, and takes his family to Moab. It may seem that he has good reason to do so but it is a terrible decision. Now they live in a land than worships idols, that knows not God, and it is going to bring some sorrow and bitterness. The first step in going from joy to bitterness is turning away from the Lord, turning away from God.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 8th, 2013 at 5:36 am and is filed under Daily Devotions. You can skip to the end and leave a response.