“And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband” (Ruth 1:5).
TEXT — Ruth 1:1-5
Message
Today in the Word edition of July 19, 1993, published the story of a young film director, Robert Flaherty’s months-long prospecting for iron ore in the Far North. He found neither, but he succeeded in shooting about 70,000 feet of film in his travels. Someone encouraged him to edit the film and make a documentary, which Flaherty spent weeks doing. But just as he finished, a match from his cigarette dropped among the celluloid, consuming the entire film and burning Flaherty badly.
Today’s text tells the story of a family whose famine-influenced and ill-advised decision to move from Bethlehem Judah to Moab ended in incalculable disaster. Elimelech’s misadventure led to his death and the loss of his two sons. His widow, Naomi, returned to Bethlehem Judah empty except with the compassionate daughter-in-law, Ruth.
There are some lessons to learn from this family’s disastrous move. First, is the necessity of prayer before any decision is made. Our text does not show any place where Elimelech prayed before moving his family from the “house of bread” to an accursed stronghold. Not every adverse situation should set us running, without consulting God in prayer. Also, sometimes, we must understand that the grass may not always be eventually greener on the other side. None of us is immune to such consequences unless we diligently consider our ways. Besides praying, we also must seek godly counsel before any relocation decision is made. These days when economic challenges are biting harder, it is not unusual for people to bolt out of a place of downturn only to enter another region’s downward spiral.
This study teaches us the importance of critically, closely, and prayerfully scrutinizing our decision to relocate from one place to another. We must enlist proper and proven tools of well-informed counsels spiced with ample personal research weighed on the scale of spiritual, social, and economic viability. We should make no moves that lack the leading of the Spirit of God.
Thought for the day
If our eyes are not on God, we can’t see where He’s pointing us.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.