I Will Set Out...

“In the days…there was a famine in the land, and a man…together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab…When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing…Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.” Ruth 1:1, 6-7.

This is a story of a family that turned to a land forbidden by God when times got lean. It is a story of an impatient heart, a disbelieving spirit and stepping out of God’s provision. It is my story and it may be yours. Throughout the Bible, God used different kinds of famines to teach His children dependency on Him, trust in Him and circumstances to define His character. Whether the famines were physical, spiritual or emotional, the differences among these stories are highlighted in their response. The family above has responded to the famine by hitting the road and joining a city full of false gods and forbidden resources. During their stay in Moab, Naomi’s husband dies and she watches both sons take Moabite women as wives, a move strictly forbidden by God. ‘They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ 1 Kings 11:2. One tragic disaster after another eventually ended with the death of both sons. We are not given any details about these tragedies – they are simply recorded history. It is an understood fact that moving out of the ‘land of God’ and into forbidden areas in life will end in devastation and loss.

When Naomi had nowhere else to turn, she turns back to the land of God. She hears that He has come to the aid of His people and she longs for home and provision. No doubt after being indoctrinated into the forbidden land for ten years, her life had become a series of compromises, settling for less and missed blessings. She eventually turned back to God out of her necessity for something…for anything…for the familiar. It was only after loss and tragedy did she turn her eyes back upon the ‘land of God.’

Does this story sound familiar and does it strike a spiritual cord in your soul? I have certainly set out for a better land in my own pursuit for comfort in my past. I have pursued the life of the parable son only to return with a hungry heart. ‘I will set out…and go back…Father, I have sinned.’ Luke 15:18.

If we do not reside squarely in the middle of our discomfort out of a faith offering to God we will be tempted to pursue other lands that will never satisfy, never provide and always fail us. If we pursue faulty gods we will eventually have to turn back to God out of our necessity and what we lack. We cannot glamorize and pursue the ‘have not’s’ only to long for the ‘used to have’s.’

Don’t be tempted to say the words, ‘I will set out…’