I am currently doing a Bible study of Ruth through the First 5 app. If you don't know what that is it is created by Proverbs 31 and they have many studies available. Of the studies that I've done I would say they are for anyone, not just women. They begin with a foundations week and then have lessons Mondays-Fridays and a weekend study.
Well, I started this one late and missed the foundations week, but I can go back and do it anytime. I got something out of the daily teachings each day and even some things beyond the teachings. The weekend one for this past week was called 'The Way Back". The teaching was good but I was struck with a similarity.
Jacob sent his sons to Egypt because there was a famine in the land, the Promised Land. If you know the story you know they found much more than food in Egypt. They found their brother, Joseph, that they sold into slavery and he was the reason their family was rescued from death. Pharaoh invited his father and extensive family to come to Egypt to live and offered them the best land (Genesis 45). That's a pretty good offer, but they were already living in the land promised to his grandfather, Abraham. Why should they leave that land, even for the best land of Egypt? Even in a famine?
Jacob, or Israel as he's called at this point, heads out to Egypt, but he had his doubts. He stops in Beersheba and offers sacrifices to God. God spoke to him and told him not to fear going to Egypt. He promised to make his family into a great nation while in Egypt (Genesis 46). Interestingly, it might have been the best land but it was separate from the Egyptians because they detested shepherds. Hmm, Jesus is the Great Shepherd. But that's a whole different discussion.
Eventually, over 400 years of living there, they went from honored guests to slaves. I wonder how many people over the years thought about God telling Jacob to not fear going there, even though it obviously didn't turn out well for them. They did indeed become a huge nation, but great?
Jump ahead a ways and Moses is leading them out of Egypt and back to the Promise Land. Even though they were slaves, they left with gold and silver and clothes given to them by the Egyptians who begged them to leave. They left with increase.
Now back to Ruth. Naomi and her husband, Elimelek, and two sons are about to leave the Promise Land due, once again, to famine. They did not go to back to Egypt but went to the closer land of Moab. Moab was their enemy, but they went anyway. This time is different though. There is no mention of them making sacrifices and hearing from God to go. There is no invitation from the ruler of Moab. There is no mention of choice land or even what Elimelek would do when he got there.
Elimelek dies and his sons marry Moabite women and then after living in Moab for 10 years the sons die as well. Naomi hears that the famine is finally over and God has provided for His people, so she decides to go home. She leaves Moab with her daughter-in-laws and it seems nothing else. No one handed her gold or silver or even clothes as she left. All she had with her was these young women and one of them she convinces to go back home. She left with decrease.
Ruth, her daughter-in-law who does return with her, eventually becomes the grandmother of King David and the multiple times-great grandmother of Jesus. So Naomi didn't leave with nothing.
Famine drove both Jacob and his family out of the Promised Land and famine drove Naomi and her family out of the same land. God told Jacob to not fear going and that they would become a great nation. There is no evidence that Elimelek spoke to God about it at all. Jacob's family did grow into a great nation. Elimelek's family fell apart. The Israelites were given gifts to get out. Naomi was given nothing, but Ruth chose to go with her, and she turned out to be a life-saving gift.
We all face our own versions of famine. If we talk to God and listen to Him, He will direct our steps. Even if He takes us into a place we never thought we'd go. Or we can take matters into our own hands and step out of His plan and will. But here's the thing. In both cases we can go back. We can end up right back in His promises. We may end up with treasures or we may end up back there with new people in our lives. We may go back with more or with less. But regardless He still has a plan. He still has a purpose. He still has a destiny for us.
Sometimes I think that I have more power than I do, and that my mis-steps mean His will can't be accomplished. Here's the thing, He already knew I'd make the mis-steps and included them in the plan. And I'm definitely not powerful enough to thwart His plans. I just need to go back to Him. Because He still has a plan for me. He still has a purpose. He still has my destiny.
