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    When You Are Feeling Desperate, Try This

    Seventh-day Adventist Church3.1K views2:291/28/2021

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    Putting God first can be difficult. What can we learn from Ruth that will help us put God first in our lives today? Ruth was not an Israelite when she was born. She grew up as a Moabite and probably worshipped Chemosh, the fish God of the Moabites. Chemosh was also known as “the destroyer”. In 2 Kings 3:27, we see the king of Moab offering his own son and heir as a blood sacrifice to Chemosh. In sharp contrast to this, Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, spoke of Jehovah, the loving God of the Is- raelites, who rescued His people from slavery and calls them to love and respect each other. Ruth must have started to worship Jehovah a long time before the tragedies happened. In a sad and dark turn of events, Naomi lost her husband and two sons within a decade. Her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, were devastat- ed. Life was already difficult when their husbands were alive, but now the situation was desperate. Naomi decided to return to Israel and sent both of them home. Orpah eventually agreed to go home. On the other hand, Ruth simply refused. Even at this darkest hour in her life, she didn’t blame God for her circumstances. Instead, she put God first in her life and insisted in travelling with Naomi to continue worshipping Jehovah. Here are Ruth’s words, as recorded in Ruth 1:16: “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Life may be difficult for you right now. Putting God first doesn’t guarantee that our lives will be easy, but it does mean we will find peace and salvation. Ruth found a loving husband and joined the people of God. In fact, Ruth had the honour of becoming a direct ancestor of Jesus Himself, the saviour of the world. Ruth put God first. Her example compels us to do the same. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information on the Stewardship Ministries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, you can head over to https://stewardship.adventist.org/devotional-readings #GodFirst #StewardshipMinistries #AdventistChurch