Daily Devotion 8/21/18
Ruth 1:16-18 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. 17 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.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
When hardships come we can get bitter or we can turn to God to get better. Ruth experienced a tremendous hardship. Her husband died after just a few years of marriage. Imagine how hard that must have been. It would have been easy for Ruth to get bitter toward God. It would have been easy to go back to her parents household and worship the gods she was born to believe in. But she didn’t. She wanted to go with Naomi. Why? Because she had come to believe in the one and only God. She knew that he was the Savior God and that in him was strength even when she felt weak. In him was comfort when she mourned. In him was hope in a hopeless situation. She knew that the only way to truly get better was in the Savior God and she’d do whatever she had to do to be close to him. Hardships will happen in your life too. The only way to get better is to turn to God. As you mourn and grieve, as you get frustrated with life circumstances, realize God is the one who helps you through. Because of Jesus all of your hardships are only temporary. They will end. Maybe not today, maybe not next week, but they will end when you see Jesus face to face in heaven. And there you will experience only eternal joy. That’s the hope you have today and always.
Lord Jesus, thank you for conquering this world with its troubles and hardships. Because of you, all the difficulties of life are only temporary. Be with me today and always. Help me to look to you in the midst of my hardships to get better. Amen.