Scripture Designs 08

This whole Psalm reflects the might and power of God in creation -- how much more is He able to mightily work in the hearts and lives of mankind!

"And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel." 2 Kings 23:4

We are living in a time of more spiritual danger than this. They could easily find, carry out, and burn the graven images of their day -- but today, we face a false god of our imagination. Instead of creating graven idols, man has created his own, ideal "God" and says that this "God" is Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of all things. But this "God" is not the God of the Bible. Instead, this "God" only loves and never judges, this "God" turns a blind eye to sin, this "God" has no standards for Christian living. Like King Josiah, we need to read the Bible, God's laws, commandments, and statutes, in order to cast away this false god that the world has created and learn Who our God really is.

In reading through Ruth, I was reminded of that verse. We can easily see the whole picture of Ruth in just a few minutes of reading -- the conflict as well as the resolution. I think people get so enamored about this beautiful story of Ruth gaining wonderful blessings that they almost neglect to see the foundation.

Ruth very clearly chose to delight herself in the Lord and follow and trust Him (Ruth 1:16, 2:12). I don't believe that her goal was to marry a mighty man of wealth (Ruth 2:1), yet we see that, after she delighted in the Lord, she got the desires of her heart (which, in that day, would be a man to protect and care for her).

It is easy to let our focus sway to what we want (whether it's marriage, a new vehicle, computer, success, you name it), that we begin to seek the end result -- sometimes at the expense of our relationship with God. If God at any time must be "saved for later" so that we can reach our goals, then we are keeping ourselves from His beautiful blessings which are exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph 3:20).

Knowing that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15), we can then say that "His people" are not just the Jews, or even the people of His day. Jesus claims every sinner as "His people," which He came to save. What love, that, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!" (Romans 5:8)