Wednesday, December 8, 2004
1 Corinthians 1:27b God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.
ORDINARY PEOPLE AND EXTRAORDINARY BLESSING
The fertile fields of grain that surrounded ancient Bethlehem gave the village its name: Beth-lechem, "house of bread." But in the Fourteenth Century BC these fields had lain desolate for more than a year when Elimilech of Bethlehem took his wife, Naomi, and their two sons southeast to Moab to escape the resulting famine.
Elimilech died in Moab, as did his sons, now married. When Naomi set out to return to Bethlehem, she advised her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab. Ruth refused. In becoming part of Naomi's family she had come to know and put her trust in the LORD, the one true God.
And it was with faith in the LORD's provision that Ruth went out to glean in the fields of Bethlehem --- Boaz' fields. Boaz, in turn, acted in faith when in the role of the kinsman-redeemer he married Ruth.
Naomi...Ruth...Boaz... all put their confidence in the LORD. This faith made them members of God's own family. And the LORD graciously chose Boaz and Ruth to be great-grandparents of David and therefore members of the earthly family of Jesus the Christ.
Faith is not only for the crisis of nations but for the crunch times in family life as well. And the Lord stands ready to come to our aid-- not only when we face death but as we face life's daily decisions. We can know this for certain because
Jesus is *our* Kinsman-Redeemer.
He became one with us sinners, so that we by faith might become God's own children - with the Father's house our eternal home. He made this happen by joining us in the ordinary things of daily life in order to live the life we have failed to live. And then He died the death we deserve, in order to redeem us by His own blood.
Bethlehem's long, long history is the story of God's use of ordinary people and everyday events to work extraordinary blessing. Even the Son of God became "ordinary" - a servant - to grant us ordinary sinners the most extraordinary blessings of all.
We are rich, for He was poor;
Is not this a wonder?
Therefore praise God evermore
Here on earth and yonder (TLH 97:3). 