She had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited His people and given them food.
— Ruth 1:6
During our first years in the church life, we fell in love with the revelations, the meetings, the sweetness among the believers, and the atmosphere of blessedness. In spite of all these enjoyable experiences, eventually we find we are unable to fully put our trust in the One who provides them. Therefore, when any of these precious experiences dry up, we immediately take off on a sojourn. We remove ourselves from the Lord and His people and in the process find out who we really are. We are not the great believers we thought we were. After we are touched by the Lord about our relying upon other things, we are finally able to come to Him as we should. Now the focus is no longer on the food, but on the Lord Himself. Needless to say, where the Lord is, there will be food.
This is the journey of every believer who seeks the Lord. When we come to this stage, our heart returns to Bethlehem, for that is where the Lord is. Our heart desires the Lord and focuses on Him, not on the blessings He provides. Therefore, we rise up to go to where we hear He is, and we re-consecrate ourselves to Him.
Adapted from Ruth: Growth Unto Maturity, pages 20-21.
Tomorrow: “A Picture of Our Growth”
Encouraging words. Of course, I know the real food is in Bethlehem, but that kind of knowing doesn’t drive me to action. To be “touched by the Lord” about relying on other things is not a teaching but a touching. We must, it seems, go to Moab to receive this kind of touching.