Are You Willing To Wait at the Master's Feet?

I don't know about you but I think they sure had some weird ways of saying and doing things back in the Old Testament.  Check this out.

Ruth 3:1-4(NKJV)

1Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? 

2Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. 

3Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 

4Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do.”

Huh?  LOL.  It is just odd phrasing for me.  But I believe there is a lesson that we can learn from this.  As you can see, this is from the Book of Ruth.  On Monday you may recall I wrote For Where You Go, I Will Go!.  In that post I wrote the following:

"Here is a question.  As a follower of Christ, do you have that same loyalty and faith?  Are you willing to follow Jesus ANYWHERE He leads you?  Are you willing to leave all that you know for Him?"

I was comparing the loyalty and faith that Ruth had to her mother in law Naomi to the loyalty and faith that we should have to Jesus.  Well today I would like to draw another example from their relationship.

As many of you know, one of the goals of my blog is to give you some of the real world, here and now benefits of being a Christian.  To answer that question "of what practical use is it to be a Christian today?".  I have written many times about how cool it is to watch God work in our lives.  How He can guide us and provide so many blessing in our lives.

But how many have noticed that it doesn't always happen in the time frame we would like?  And what is the first explanation we jump to when it doesn't happen in our time frame?  What did we do wrong?  How did we sin?  What did we do to offend God so that He isn't listening to us any long? 

And while at some point I am sure that those are valid questions to ask, why is that the first place we go?  Think about it.  What is Satan's easiest line of attack?  Guilt.  Isn't it amazing where our mind goes first?

I'd like to offer a different approach based on Naomi's instructions to Ruth. 

Ruth 3:4(NKJV)

4Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do.”

Ruth 3:12-13(NKJV)

12Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I. 

13Stay this night, and in the morning it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the Lord lives! Lie down until morning.”

Ruth 3:18(NKJV)

18Then she said, “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.”

 OK, let me tie this all together and wrap up.  In the story above Ruth is told to uncover Boaz's feet, and then wait and Boaz would tell her what to do.  Then Boaz tells her He will help her but there are a couple of other things that have to be put in place first.  Then Naomi tells Ruth to just chill and be patient, Boaz is on the matter and he WILL take care of it.

So the next time things aren't happening as quickly as you may want, just think of the story of Ruth.  Just sit patiently at Jesus' feet.  He is on it!  Don't assume you've done something wrong.  Maybe just as Boaz, Jesus has some other things that He needs to put into place before you can proceed.  Just chill, continue to thank Jesus for being on the case and working things out.  He WILL concluded the matter, you can count on it!

God will ALWAYS Prepare You

Whether you realize it at the time or not, God is always preparing you.  In big things and small, if He called you to do it, He will ALWAYS prepare and equip you to complete the task on His behalf successfully.

Let me share an example from my life the last couple of days.  Our church has a satellite church and so some stuff has to be prerecorded.  I am one of the camera operators but I don't normally do this.  Last week I received an email asking if I could fill in on camera for the pre-recording this morning.  I said sure, no problem and didn't really give it anymore thought other than making a note of when to show up.  I didn't really think about how long and if I would be sitting or standing or whatever.

Now let me switch gears.  My profession is pretty sedentary.  About 8 months ago I got a stand where I could set my computer and work standing up.  My doctor suggested it.  Well I did it for a while but then got out of the habit. 
 

This past weekend my oldest son and my daughter in law were over and we were talking about fitness issues.  Somehow the subject of standing while working came up.  (I say that somewhat facetiously because I don't believe it somehow just came up.  I believe this is a simple example of God subtly directing our lives as He prepares us for a task) 

Well talking about it reminded me about what a great idea it was and that I should start doing that again.  That was on Sunday.  Monday I sat and worked all day.  Tuesday I sat and worked the first half of the day but all morning long I was extremely aware of the stand that I could be working from.  It was one of those things I just couldn't ignore. 

I have been walking past that stand for months and not giving it a thought.  Well yesterday I could not ignore it and so about noon I started working standing up.  I ended up working standing up for about 3+ hours.  It felt really good!

All right I'm sure your saying "get to the point already"!  Well here it is.  When I showed up for the pre-recording I found that the camera I was on was on an elevated platform.  So not only was I going to be standing for about 30-45 minutes but I was going to have to be extremely still so that I didn't shake the platform when I moved. 

Isn't it cool how God gave me a little training the day before to prepare me for the task He had in store for me today?!

Have you ever experienced God intervening and preparing you in your life like that?  Would you like to?  It isn't hard.  It is simply one of the many blessing of having accepted Jesus into your life as your Lord and Savior.  Have you done that yet?  If not why not do it right now?  Just have a simple conversation with Jesus.  Ask Him to come into your life and guide you.  "Dear Jesus…."      

We Just Never Know

 

Ruth 2:10-12(NKJV)

10So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

11And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. 

12The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

Folks, it's a small world out there and it is shrinking by the minute.  I have run into people all across this country that I know when I travel.  I once ran into people I knew at a rest stop in Iowa as I was hitchhiking to California.  I have run into people from my home town when I was traveling in Europe.  I have some friends that ran into someone they knew in Nairobi, Kenya of all places.  It's truly a small, small world!

You're probably wondering, is this leading to a Disney song?  All together now:  It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all…….:)

Notice how Ruth is surprised that she is even noticed because she isn't from around there.  How would Boaz even know of her?  But what does Boaz say?  "It has been fully reported to me…". 

Never underestimate the effect your words and actions have on others, even those who you would never expect to be affected.  As Christians we represent Christ here on earth. 

Matthew 25:40(NKJV)

40And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

And always remember that even if no one else sees, God sees.  Don't worry about getting credit for the good things that you do here on earth.  Sometimes you will and sometimes you won't.  Just rest assured that God sees all that we do on His behalf and he takes note.  We will be rewarded for it.  Both in this lifetime and beyond!

For wherever you go, I will go!

Ruth 1:16(NKJV)

16But Ruth said:      “Entreat me not to leave you,     Or to turn back from following after you;     For wherever you go, I will go; …

This comes from the book of Ruth.  Ruth was very loyal to her mother-in-law Naomi.  After her husband and both of her children died, Naomi decided to go back home to her people.  Ruth, who was married to one of Naomi's sons decided to go with her even though she would be leaving all she knew to follow Naomi.

Here is a question.  As a follower of Christ, do you have that same loyalty and faith?  Are you willing to follow Jesus ANYWHERE He leads you?  Are you willing to leave all that you know for Him? 

The reason I ask is that I believe anything short of that and you are depriving yourself of what could be the most exciting journey of your life. 

It doesn't mean that you'll lose your salvation or anything if you aren't.  It just means that you are telling Jesus that you only want part of the blessings that He has in store for you.  Why would you do that? 
 

When Should You Seek God's Help?

Before or after things get really ugly?  I think the logical answer is before, don't you?  Unfortunately when do most of us actually do it?  After!

After we have tried to handle things all on our own.  And God being the good parent that he is, will attempt to give us guidance before hand, but is more than willing to step aside and let us screw up on our own if that is the way we need to learn the lessons.

When I was first out of high school I worked for a car dealership reconditioning used cars.  Now I was not raised in a very mechanical family so I didn't have a lot of skills coming into that job.  I remember many times working my tail off for an hour or more on a project.  Then after I was done, one of the mechanics would walk over and ask "Did you ever think of doing it like this?" and he would show me a much simpler way I could have done whatever it was I was working on.

That used to really tick me off but looking back it did teach me an important lesson.  So when I had kids I tried to follow that model.  I would try to tell them the easy or better way to do something.  If they listened to me great.  If not I had fun watching them struggle and do it the hard way.    

Now I can be pretty hard headed so it may not be a surprise that my kids can be that way sometimes also.  So many times the listened but sometimes they did not. 

Where am I going with this?  I've just finished reading Judges 20 and 21.  What a mess.  We have a situation where the Israelites develop a war plan and then only afterwards ask for God's direction.  And while they ultimately get victory, they pay a much bigger price than they probably had to if they had only gone to God first, instead of after the fact.

Great lesson to learn.  Harder lesson to implement.  Let's try to focus on doing it in the correct order this year!

Everyone Did What Was Right In His Own Eyes

Judges 17:5-6(NKJV)

5The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household£ idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 

6In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

See how easy it is to go astray when we all "do what is right in our own eyes"?  Micah seems to have been a spiritual man.  I don't get the sense that he was evil or had evil intent.  But what did he do?  He made images to worship.  He replaced God with his own gods.  You may have noticed from previous writings that this is one thing that really seems to tick God off.

How many times are we guilty of that?  Substituting our judgment for God's.  Deciding how to allocate our time, money, talents, and resources as we see fit instead of as God sees fit?

As we move forward into 2013 let's all make an effort to stay focused on God. 

May you all have a highly favored and prosperous New Year!

We Don't Have To Keep It Secret!

Judges 16:18-20(NKJV)

18When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 

19Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then £she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 

20And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

In the story of Samson and Delilah, as you know, Delilah keeps trying to get Samson to tell her where his power comes from.  And he keeps toying with her.  Telling her one thing that isn't really it and then telling her another thing that isn't really it.

Finally she wears him down and he tells her where his power comes from.  Well for whatever reason, God isn't pleased that Samson has revealed where His power comes from and so God departs from Samson.

Isn't it great that we don't have to keep secret where our power comes from?  In fact we are told to go out and spread that news.   What am I talking about?  Why the power of Jesus Christ of course! 

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior we get to tap into the incredible power of God.  How would you like to start off the New Year with God's power on your side?  It's real simple.  All you have to do is ask Jesus to take over your life and guide you.  Just have a simple conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus….".