Ruth 1:11-13  But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.” (NLT)

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“The LORD himself has raised his fist against me.” 

This sounds a bit like Old Job, doesn’t it? We tend to think that every sadness and every problem is somebody’s fault. If we believe God is in control, then God must have caused my problems. It simply stands to reason. 

Reason isn’t always right. 

As this book affirms in every chapter, God is actually working to bring things together in a most delightful manner for everyone. The book ends with a peek into the future. The problems of a handful of people in a place you have to think really hard to remember, even though you just read it, turned into the necessary seedbed from which Israel’s King David would grow. His descendant would be Jesus, God’s Son, our Savior. 

Reflect on this: Your problems today, and how you manage them under God’s guidance, may well prepare the way for something very good indeed. There is goodness awaiting to overflow into our lives, and the lives of people we will never meet, because of our faithfulness through our difficulties today. 

Wherever your problems arise from today, God is at work in it all to prepare a special future. Your faithfulness today may make something possible that will benefit people who will live generations from now. 

God blesses kind people like Ruth and Boaz. He blesses generations because of acts of loyal love and faithfulness carried out day by day. You can change the world now and forever by attuning your heart to God’s and living in alignment with his eternal purposes today. 

Like Father Abraham, God blesses us so that we can live lives that bless others. Bless a life today. Bless a family’s future today. Bless the generations to come through a life dedicated to hearing and obeying God. Live in the assurance of knowing God uses our kindness with a butterfly effect around the world and beyond our living years.

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I will trust God from the bottom of my heart and live a life shaped by loyal love and kindness. 

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Our Father, thank you that we don’t have to believe our adversary’s lies about our problems. Open our eyes to the greater reality of what is going on here. Empower us to live lives of loyal love and faithfulness that bless others today and generations to come. Thank you for working for our highest good even in the hardest of hard times in our lives. Amen.