Rev. Ray and Pat Amos
Ruth 1:12
“Even if I thought there was still hope for me…”
“HOPING BEYOND TO HEAL”
The above verse is the first time that the word “hope” is found in the Bible. Naomi had lost her husband and two sons. She has returned to her former homeland poor and bitter. She said that even if she thought that there was hope to start over, that she was too old now. She could only see hope down one avenue of life: to marry and have children; and those days were gone.
What we call hopeless may just be our own act of placing limits on hope. Instead of restricting the hand of God by our finite faith, we would do well to believe that God can redirect hope in far better ways than we could have imagined. There have been times when we prayed for a certain thing to happen; and then we had to change the way we were praying so that God’s will would be done.
If you know Naomi’s story, you also know that it ended with her praising the Lord. She moved from bitter to one who praised the Lord. Through Ruth’s marriage to Boaz, Naomi had a grandson. Her friends said to her,” He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.
Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. (Ruth 4:14-17) And we know this is the lineage of Jesus whose birth gives us all hope.
Some are feeling hopeless today. There seems to be only one way out, or through, a situation. Don’t give up, but look up! Do we dare to believe that God may have something better in mind? Are we willing to press on, no matter how difficult the path; because we believe that we will see the Glory of the Lord?
“Life was shattered, and hope was gone; crushing the load that I bore; Then out of the depths I cried, ‘Oh God, ‘Give me something worth living for.’
Something more than my yesterdays, more than I had before, something more than wealth or fame—He gave me something worth living for.”
Grace and Peace, Rev Ray
“Link to YouTube Video – Follow Me – When Life Gets Broken
