In the middle of hardships and challenges, it is sometimes difficult to believe that God is always there with us. But it is when things become tough that God wants us to believe more in Him. In the book of Ruth, in Ruth 1:1-5, the Bible describes the story of a family whose things went from down to down. Naomi lost first her husband, and later her two sons. At the same time, by losing her two sons, her two daughters in law, Orpah and Ruth, lost their husbands. It was a terrible situation, a difficult situation, and many people are living similar situations, not with the same circumstances, but which show that everything is bad, the situation became worse through time. In such circumstances, it is difficult to believe that God is there. You can think that He forgotten you, you can think that He does not hear your prayers and does not love you, but it is a lie from the pit of the hell. Through the book of Ruth, I want us to understand some key principles to overcome in our hardships.
The story of Naomi’s family shows us that when you leave the field of faith, you can only receive tears and pain. At a moment of Israel history, a famine happened, which caused people to lack food to sustain their needs. Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, decided then to move to the country of Moab, because he thought it would be the best option for him and his family. Nonetheless, Moab was among the nations God had prohibited Israel to be associated with. And in this country, his two sons and him will die. In the life of any child of God, there are always hardships and challenges, and in those moments, your decisions show if you have faith in God or not. Elimelech, instead to hold on to the commands of God, decided to rely on his own capacities to solve his issues, like many of us do when we go through challenges. We think that to solve the problem, we need to be in charge and to do something so that the problem be solved. But the problem when we do that is that we don’t consult God, we only think about to take whatever actions we think to be good for us. My dear loved ones, when you rely on yourself to get out of trouble, you show to God that you are still independent in your way of thinking, in the way you walk with Him. And when you do that, you move from the way of faith to the way of doubt. And results are never good. Elimelech wanted to take the situation in charge, but it cost him later his life and the life of his two sons. By being independent, you will fight by yourself, and the result will be that one day you will be exhausted, because you will fight without God, and it won’t solve the situation. If you face the situation by being realistic, you will lose faith. But if you face the situation by trusting God, you will walk in victory. For this reason, when things become difficult, when you go through a season of challenges, seek guidance in the Word of God and talk to God in prayer, He will show you what to do. Don’t be in charge by trying to solve everything by yourself, let God be in charge, it is the way of wisdom. If He tells you to move, do something. If He doesn’t, don’t. Elimelech thought about the best solution, but it was unfortunately a deadly solution. And even so sometimes it means doing nothing and just continuing to do what you can do, trust God, He knows what He is doing. Never leave the path of faith when things become tough, it is in such moments that God tests you.
In Ruth 1:6, Naomi decided to go back to the country of her fathers, the country of Israel, because she heard that God had visited Israel and gave bread to his people. Unfortunately, it is most of the time when we are completely crushed by our circumstances, worn out, and depressed, that we think about going back to God. It should not be the case, but it is very often what happens. It is only by going back to God that you can find the deliverance to your situation, the peace you are looking for, the breakthrough you are looking for. And by coming back to God, He will open doors, He will change your circumstances, and you will see His hand working in your life.
Therefore, whatever you are going through actually, it can happen that things seem so desperate that there is no more hope. But it is in those circumstances that God tells you to trust Him again. But how facing the situation with faith when everything tells you that is is over? How to believe again when your business completely crashed and that everything around you tells you to stop and to forget this dream God put in your heart? How to believe when your wife or your husband tells you that she has already contacted a lawyer to sign the divorce papers? How to trust God when your children left the house and wnader everywhere, knowing that anything can happen to them and that you are constantly worried because you don’t know what could happen to them? How to trust God in such circumstances?
The fact is that when God wants to write a story of faith with you, He will make you go through situations that will deeply affect your faith. Moments of doubt and questioning will often happen, because we are human beings, and God knows it. But if you look to God, even in your darkest moments, He will give you again the strength to believe in Him, He will give you again the strength to walk with Him. Nothing is impossible to God, but you must do one thing: believe. And it is what Ruth did. From a situation when nothing could expect for her a good future, God arranged things, and she married Boaz. She became later an ancestor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Whatever be the situation you are currently in right now, God knows the end of the story, People, in this season, will judge you based on what they see, and they will say that it is over for you. And you cannot blame them, because they are human beings, and God will alway make you go through such circumstances. But you must also understand that if you want to live a life of faith, it is part of your journey. Then, don’t give up when things become worse, when the situation seems desperate. God knows the end of the story, and the end is glorious if you out your faith in God in those situations. God loves you, and even so it is sometimes very painful to believe it, He will never forsake you. But He needs to make you a man, a woman of faith. And you must go through a certain level of hardship to become as He wants you to become.
Your wilderness is only for a season. Don’t take permanent decisions of doubt when it is just for a season. Even so things seem over, God did not say His last word. Trust Him, and continue to walk with Him in what He wants you to do. And He will deal with what you cannot deal with. Keep faith, God is with you. Amen.
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