“I didn’t get enough _________ ?” What would your answer be? Sleep? Food? Coffee? Clothes? Likes? Retweets? Compliments?
Certainly, we’ve all thought about, felt, reacted to and commented on what we feel we lack. Perhaps on a daily basis...maybe it’s the first thought in the morning or the last one at night. At times our lack of something may be due to our lack of wisdom in our decision-making. At times our lack is perceived as such because the culture we live in is continually marching to the rhythm of “more, More, MORE”, and where there is a constant push for bigger and better, there is bound to be a constant discontent.
But what if our scarcity or lack is not due to our foolishness or marketing, but rather to God’s sovereignty? What if God brings the scarcity into our life?
“Now it came about in the days when the judges governed, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.” (Ruth 1:1)
GOD’S POWER
There are many things in our control...and many things not in our control. Hebrews 11:3 tells us that, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”
Psalm 104 reminds us that all of creation depends on and looks to God for growth and provision. Psalm 22:8 declares: “For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.” Furthermore, Daniel 2:21 explains that it is God who “changes times and seasons”, who removes and establishes kings -- not voters or civil wars.
Acts 17:26 says, “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place...”. Whether or not you hate where you live or have the opportunity to move ten times around the world, you are within the boundaries of dwelling that God has established for you.
Proverbs 16:9 confirms that “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” And Proverbs 21:1 pronounces: “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”
God is all-powerful.
Which brings us to Psalm 105:16: “When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supplyof bread...” God summoned a famine -- scarcity and lack. So, when we read in Ruth 1:1 that there was a famine, we can be certain that God is sovereign over it. Furthermore, having the benefit of knowing the end of the story, we see that while the famine affected an entire land, God used it to draw out one person: Naomi.
GOD’S PLANS
The land of Moab (Ruth 1:1) was out of the way, as it were. It was unforeseen and unplanned. I’m sure it wasn’t Naomi’s family’s destination of choice. God often will lead us “out of our way”, out of our comfort zone, out of what we know or think we know, into a place that He knows is good for us. It’s part of His plan.
With God, everything is “in process”. While there are events, like a famine, in God’s sovereignty it is but a part of a process. There are no isolated events. As Christians, for example, we probably remember the moment we prayed, repented or encountered God, as the moment we were “saved”. While this moment may qualify and be understood as an event, in God’s sight this “event” was the culmination (and is the continuation) of a long unseen process in which God had been working through prayers, conversations, circumstances, conviction, repentance, thoughts...working to bring us to a point and to a place where we would see the glory of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
In the same way, God summons famines and scarcity in our lives as crucial parts and critical points in the process of changing us and working in us and through us. He can use scarcity to move us down a path we would never choose, to give us something we could never buy. Both are of grace.
In the end, God wants me to lack nothing...in my conformity to His Son, Jesus Christ.
GOD’S PROVISION
Many times God provides for us out of seemingly ordinary means. In other words, God’s means of provision don’t always look like “God” -- they’re not always miraculous in appearance or attraction. But they are always by His sovereign, loving hand.
In Ruth 2:3 we read that Ruth “happened” to come to a portion of a field belonging to Boaz, the forgotten kinsman-redeemer who would become Ruth’s husband -- her provider and protector. There are no “happenings” with God! While many times God does things that seem to come out of nowhere, they have actually been sent ahead!
In Psalm 105, in addition to reading that God summoned a famine upon the land of Israel (vs. 16), we also read that God had sent a man ahead -- Joseph, sold as a slave (vs. 17). God had already provided an answer to the question before it was asked, a solution to the problem before it arose. Scarcity and lack can mean many things for us, but let them also mean that God has already prepared and sent ahead His provision. God had prepared Ruth for Naomi and Boaz for Ruth. (See 2 Kings 8:1-6 for a striking example of how God sent ahead His provision in a man named Gehazi.)
Still, while we wait we are tested. The Psalm says that until God’s word came to pass, “the word of the Lord tested him” (Psalm 105:18-19). While forgotten by men who promised not to forget him (Genesis 40:20-23), Joseph learned to trust in God. God was not only working in Joseph and for Joseph, but was also sovereignly orchestrating events in the land of Egypt. Similarly, during the ten years of the famine in the land of Israel, God was not only testing and working in and for Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, but also orchestrating events in the land of Israel. For soon He would visit the land, giving food and preparing a way for Naomi and Ruth to return. (Ruth 1:6).
As we come to trust in God’s sovereign hand during our seasons of famine, scarcity and lack, we learn to give Him thanks. The way through testing is by thanksgiving. Though undoubtedly we will say, “I don’t have enough ________.”, we will come to know and to understand that in every season of plenty, as in every season of want, God is enough. And this is how we know God is enough for us: when we can give thanks to him in anything.
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” (Psalm 24:1-2)
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