God is Able

However impossible a situation might seem, God is able to turn things around and make a glorious end.

As a direct result of famine in the land, and hoping to escape and give his family a better life, Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their two sons moved from Bethlehem to the country of Moab. But this did not prove to be a good move for them, as Elimelech died, and following their marriages to two Moabite women, in due time both sons also died. Now, bereft, Naomi’s eyes turned again to the Lord’s land, and although Orpah, one of her daughters in-law returned to her gods and homeland, Ruth clung to Naomi, refusing to go back.

In the direst of circumstances a young girl’s lifetime plans were dashed, and Ruth’s hopes and dreams lay in the balance. But God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are His ways our ways (Isaiah 55:8) – God had greater plans for Ruth.

During the time that Ruth had come to know this Hebrew family, she had seen, heard and learned enough about Naomi’s God, and the family’s way of life, to know that this was what she wanted. When the time came to decide, the dead gods of Moab held no attraction for her, and nothing else would do. She wanted the Living God of Israel. ‘Don’t urge me to leave you, or turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God’ (Ruth 1:16).

So the two journeyed back, and as Ruth entered the land, not only did the Lord set her feet in the pathway of Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi, who later became her husband, but the greatest treasure of all lay ahead. In choosing Israel’s God, Ruth stepped into a path of blessing that she could never have imagined. In Matthew chapter 1, not only do we find that King David proceeded from her line, but in the plans of Almighty God, she had entered the ancestry of Christ, the Messiah, Himself!

So today, no matter how difficult your past, or how uncertain your present pathway may seem to be, if you know of a certainty that the Lord has whispered ‘This is the way, walk ye in it’ (Isaiah 30:21), you can move forward with great assurance in your heart, knowing that with God nothing is impossible. For those who cling to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, belong to the King of kings, and have entered a new generational line of untold treasures and blessings. ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him’ (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, You are the author of life, our Redeemer and our hope. Help us like Ruth to cling to Thee, for Thou art able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. In Jesus’ name, Amen.