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August 8, 2008
God's Sovereignty and Our Obedience
Read Ruth 4 and Matthew 1:1-16
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David - (Matthew 1:5-6)
We can be paralyzed by the what-ifs of life. What if I had taken another job, not had this illness, married someone else, gone to another school -- the list can go on and on.
What if -- what if Ruth's first husband had not died and she had stayed with him in Moab? What if Ruth had stayed behind when Naomi returned home? What if Boaz had let them starve? What if he had allowed Ruth to marry the other kinsman-redeemer?
The Lord is sovereign, and has purposes much greater than we can imagine. If any of the above had happened, there may have been no King David, the one who began the line that leads directly to Jesus, the Kings of Kings. How wonderful that God includes in Jesus' genealogy two Gentile women, Rahab and Ruth, as a foreshadowing that the gospel will be for the whole world!
The Lord superintends history, and our histories. As the story of Ruth concludes, entrust your whole past and future into the hands of the Lord who has purposes much more wonderful than we will see while we are still here. And ask the Lord for forgiveness for not trusting him when we face times that are tougher than we think are acceptable.
To him be the glory in all things!
Neil Lebhar
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