YOU SHALL NOT RETURN EMPTY
Ruth 3:1-18
The story of Ruth is amazing. She came as a stranger into the land of Israel. She was a hopeless widow. The mother in-law had no other son that could inherit her and perform the function of a husband. She had no child before the husband died. In spite of all this, she chose to follow Naomi to an unknown land. One thing kept her going. She clave to the God of Israel. She saw beyond her mother in law. Unlike Orpah, her sister in law, she saw a future in God: “Thy God shall be my God”, she said (Ruth 1:16)
When you trust God this way, God honours your faith and takes care of you. Just look at the progression in the life of this woman who was not even of the stock of Israel. She loved God and had faith in Him. All she knew about God was what her husband and the family told her. She must have leant the traditions of Israel from her late husband and mother in law. She knew enough about God’s instructions to the Israelites to cater for widows and the poor as contained in Leviticus 19:9-12.
Believing in God’s instructions, she stepped out to get something for her mother in law and herself to keep body and soul together. When she did this, God ordered her steps to the field of Boaz who was a mighty man of wealth and who happened to be a near kinsman to her late husband. She found favour with the great man and she had more than what was available to average gleaners.
This shall be your testimony this year. You shall not dwell on the level of the average. If you will just step out in faith, listen to God and be guided by his instructions, He will direct your steps and lead you into a place of favour. You may not know who or what lies ahead waiting for you or to confront you. Just trust God. He knows, He has gone ahead. He will make every crooked place straight. When he does this, your case becomes a testimony. Others may be in want, you will have abundance.
Finally, God will settle you. As Ruth was faithfully going about caring for her mother in law, God was arranging how to settle her. Just do your duties and trust God. Your case will be settled. That which is uppermost in your heart shall soon be within your reach in Jesus name. At the end of this year, you shall not return empty
PRAYER: I shall not return empty.
