HOW BIG IS GOD?
BIG ENOUGH FOR
RECESSIONS
Ruth Chapter 1
I The CONDITIONS
- Low point
in
- Everyone
did what was right in their own eyes – Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1,
- Moral decay and difficulties of every kind.
II The CHALLENGES
- In spite of alarms in the headlines and danger in the streets, we can be sure that God still loves the world and wants to save lost sinners.
THE
WILL OF GOD
We can do 4 things with the will of God:
1. Ignore it
2. Argue with it
3. Fight against it
4. OBEY it!
THE
WAYS OF GOD
When troubles come into our lives we can:
1. Endure them only ŕ bitter
2. Escape them ŕ miss God’s purposes
3. ENLIST
them (Romans
What made Elimelech’s decision wrong?
A. He honoured the enemy and not the LORD
B. He walked by SIGHT and not by faith
-Abraham did the same thing! Genesis 12:10
- No matter how difficult our circumstances may be, the safest and best place is in the will of God.
C. He majored on the physical and not the SPIRITUAL
- God provides – Psalm 37: 25 ; Matthew 6: 33
IV The CONSEQUENCES
1. Bad DECISIONS
- His two sons married unbelievers
- He became comfortable in a pagan place – vs. 1 “Sojourn”
- He exchanged 1 famine for 3 funerals
At the end of a decade of disobedience, all that remained were 3 lonely widows and 3 Jewish graves in a heathen land.
2. Bad COUNSEL
- Naomi tried to influence Orpha and Ruth to go back to their families and their false gods.
3. Bitter LOVED
Naomi:
Blames God – vs. 13 – We can’t always control the circumstances of life, but we can control how we respond to them.
Becomes resentful and imprisoned by selfishness – vs. 20-21 – Its one thing to Know God’s name, and quite another to Trust that name and allow God to work in the difficult situations of life.
V The CORRECTIVE
- Attitude of repentance
- Attitude of gratitude
Naomi had:
* Life
* Her daughter-in-law Ruth
*
*
The God of
The Christian life is a series of new beginnings. Are you trusting God for your new beginnings? After all, with God at your side, your resources are far greater than your burdens.