July 8, 2008
God's Faithful Discipline
Read Ruth 1:1, Psalm 139
While roller coasters didn't exist in ancient Israel, they provide an apt metaphor
for the period of the judges. Under the righteous judges, Israel flourished and
experienced the heights of peace and prosperity that God had promised to them
when he delivered them from Egypt. They worshipped their Redeemer and felt
his pleasure. Yet time and again, wicked judges came to power and the people
willingly followed them into the depths of idolatry and sin: "In those days there
was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25)
There ensued ruin and devastation for the people as God chastised them - famines,
droughts, and invasions. Famine was a direct result of their disobedience, not an
accident of weather or an unfortunate circumstance, not bad karma or bad luck or
being in the wrong place at the wrong time. God used the devastation of famine to
get Israel's attention and remind them that they needed him. The idols they had been worshipping, the Canaanite goddesses of harvest and fertility, were powerless to
help them. In their despair, the Israelites would finally remember their God and
cry out to him for mercy. And he listened to them! Astonishingly, God restored
them, again and again and again.
Now, I have to confess that I would often rather blame my difficulties on
circumstance or accident than consider that my own sin might be the cause. Yet
this is the very moment at which I could remember my Redeemer, and call out to
him, and find him ready and waiting to restore me, again and again and again. For
God doesn't change and his mercy to me is as great as his mercy to Israel ever
was. He uses hardship, even devastation, to make me know once again the truth
that nothing and no one in this world can make it okay, except for him.
There's a beautiful irony in this story. The man (Elimelech) was a man of Bethlehem,
literally in the Hebrew "house of bread," where there was no longer any bread to
be found. He left Israel with his family hoping to find relief among the Gentiles; he
did, but it was short-lived. Is there safety and refuge for God's people outside of
God's provinces? "Where can I flee from your presence?" asks David the psalmist - answer: nowhere (Psalm 139). "Lord, to whom shall we go?" ask the disciples -
answer: there is no one else (John 6:68). We cannot take ourselves outside the
power, influence, will, working, realm, or reach of God. Even when his discipline
feels harsh, we need to remember that it is as sons and children that he disciplines
us, in love, out of care and concern, not for vengeance or retribution. We should
rejoice that his attention is on us and that he continues to pursue us, no matter the
depths to which we fall.
Doris Cheshire
