In truth, I love lots of books, including The Shack, which is burning up the best-seller lists right now. (If you haven't read it, give it a try. It's about a guy who gets invited by God to drop by a desolate shack for a little visit. Only God turns out to be a woman!). But I can't read The Shack, or any other one book over and over again, every single day, like I can the bible.
The show host then tried to stump me by asking, "Really? Which book in the bible?"
Again I took the easy out, saying "Esther" -- because it is the host's name as well! HA!
Later, reflecting on our exchange, I decided that the book of Esther would actually fall pretty low on my list of favorite bible reading. Yes, it's a great story about God's faithfulness (and the hazards of having a big ego), but I don't like the bloody ending.
So I officially change my answer to the question of my favorite book to Ruth.
This Old Testament book starts with a woman named Naomi, who relocates to Moab with her husband because of famine in Judah. To cut to the chase, while in Moab, both Naomi's husband and sons die after about 10 years. When she hears that the Lord is again providing food in Judah, Naomi decides to travel home to Bethlehem. She tells her two daughters-in-law to stay put, as she has no other sons they can marry.
One easily severs her ties with Naomi, but the other, Ruth, declares, "Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried."
Is that loyalty, or what? Naomi's heart must have soared at realizing the depth of her daughter-in-law's love for her. And she must have been relieved, as an older woman, that she wouldn't have to travel all those long miles home alone.
When Naomi finally reaches Bethlehem, she is greeted joyfully by her old friends. Naomi's response? "Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty."
Just like I tend to do, Naomi was viewing life through her tiny sliver of perspective. God hadn't abandoned her. Rather, he was positioning her where he wanted her to be, and was about to step in and bless her. Because Ruth pretty quickly marries one of Naomi's relatives, securing Naomi's financial future. Even better, Ruth births a son, bringing joy again to Naomi's heart.
The really cool part that Naomi didn't know? That that bambino would become the great-grandfather of King David, the greatest king ever to govern Israel!
From Naomi's perspective, God had turned his face from her. He'd taken her sons and her husband, leaving her on precarious footing. Like we all do at times, Ruth wallowed in her self-pity.
But God didn't abandon her.
Which is why I love the book of Ruth. Because it gives me hope. And it reminds me to stop judging God as being "unfair" or "not there" or even "downright mean" when things don't go as I think they should.
God sees and knows everything, through the whole of time, while I see only my small bit of being. And I often don't understand even that tiny sliver.
Naomi learned to trust God, just as I'm learning to do.
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2 comments:
Sorry, deary -- yes, Ruth is a good story but I've always learned more from Esther. You do what is right, even if it puts your life at risk. What she did makes me shake in my shoes. But still, she came through in a big way for the Israelites.
Yeah, she literally put her neck on the line, right?!
Yet Esther only acted after her uncle got in her face and shamed her, telling her, "Don't think you're going to be unaffected if you do nothing. Being queen won't save you."
I love it when people ignite my courage, but I like it better when I find the courage myself. ;-)
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