Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E89 | Everyday Eurasia | Linda Louw

Transcript

S1-E89 | Everyday Eurasia | Linda Louw · Eurasia Region Podcast

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
• 0:04
  Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
• 0:08
  with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
• 0:13
  many different places around the world.
• 0:16
  Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
• 0:20
  him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
• 0:24
  all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
• 0:28
  day. Through this podcast, you'll
• 0:30
  hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
• 0:34
  reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
• 0:42
  This week, we're joined by Linda Law.
• 0:45
  She has been a missionary for 26 years, a mother of four precious
• 0:49
  daughters for 37 years, and wife to a strategic and wonderful man
• 0:53
  for 40 years. She has lived in seven different
• 0:56
  countries on four different continents.
• 0:59
  She is a graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University and has at
• 1:03
  varying times been a full time elementary teacher, mom and
• 1:08
  pastors wife. Linda is now pursuing ordination
• 1:11
  as an Elder in the Church of the Nazarene.
• 1:14
  Her current assignment is Coordinator for Advocacy for
• 1:17
  Women in Leadership on the Eurasia Region.
• 1:20
  She's passionately desires that all people, especially women,
• 1:24
  are provided with opportunities to lead within the Church as
• 1:28
  laypeople and as ministers. As we heard yesterday, Naomi is
• 1:34
  now a widow living in a strange land among strange people.
• 1:38
  She's lost her sons, but her two Moabite daughters in law are
• 1:42
  still with her. There's been famine in Judah,
• 1:45
  the reason she and her family had settled in Moab in the 1st
• 1:47
  place. But in chapter 1, verse 6, we
• 1:50
  read that Yahweh has visited His people and given them food.
• 1:56
  Naomi places her confidence in the provision of the Lord and
• 2:00
  determines that it is time for her second journey, a journey
• 2:03
  home to Bethlehem, a return to a place she belonged, a place of
• 2:09
  hope and restoration, a place where she could put behind are
• 2:13
  all the tragedies that had defined her life in Moab.
• 2:17
  But first, what is to be done about her daughters in law?
• 2:22
  They are prepared to return with her, though it is a stranger in
• 2:25
  foreign land to them. Perhaps because of her
• 2:29
  experience of living as an outsider, she cannot subject
• 2:32
  these young women she loves to such a fate.
• 2:35
  Compassionately, she urges them to return to the mother's homes
• 2:39
  where they will receive solace in the hope of a future of
• 2:43
  marriage and a family of their own.
• 2:46
  That these women love and depend on each other is evident.
• 2:50
  Naomi calls them her daughters, not in laws.
• 2:53
  They weep and beg to go with her, but Naomi is adamant.
• 2:58
  Reluctantly but obediently, Orpa turns away and returns home.
• 3:04
  Ruth cannot turn away, and what follows is one of the most
• 3:09
  beautiful and OFT quitted verses in the Old Testament.
• 3:12
  It is a testament to committed love that transcends time and
• 3:18
  circumstances. Do not urge me to leave your to
• 3:22
  return from following you. For where you go I will go, and
• 3:28
  where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people,
• 3:33
  and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and
• 3:40
  there lie be buried. In this we see the Hebrew
• 3:44
  concept of ha said. It is word that saturates the
• 3:48
  Hebrew's scriptures as a hallmark of God's covenantal
• 3:52
  character, and there is expected response of His people.
• 3:57
  Frequently rendered as loving devotion.
• 4:01
  It combines steadfast loyalty, mercy, kindness, and
• 4:06
  faithfulness. It shapes every major section of
• 4:10
  the Old Testament. It is shown in every chapter of
• 4:13
  Ruth a stark contrast to the violence and selfishness of the
• 4:17
  period of the judges. In the book of Ruth we see a has
• 4:22
  said that is an extravagant faithfulness on the part of the
• 4:26
  beloved. It is inspired loyalty, not
• 4:30
  depended on relationship or status.
• 4:34
  It is valiant love and action. In Hebrew, hased is a verb one
• 4:41
  does hased. The pledge Ruth makes to Naomi
• 4:45
  is not one that can be taken lightly.
• 4:48
  Ruth pledges herself to do life with Naomi no matter what.
• 4:53
  Not just to do life, but to take on all the qualities that define
• 4:57
  life for Naomi. Her people, her God, her home,
• 5:04
  her very way of life. She will forsake her culture and
• 5:09
  her identity to be what Naomi needs.
• 5:12
  She will give up her dreams and ambitions.
• 5:15
  Following Naomi and Dadley means never having a second chance at
• 5:19
  marriage or children. She turns her back on security.
• 5:23
  She doesn't know if they will have a home or if they will have
• 5:26
  to move from place to place looking for food and shelter.
• 5:32
  And her commitment goes far beyond life.
• 5:34
  Where Naomi dies, so will she. Not even death will end her vow
• 5:41
  to remain at Naomi's side. This is a very strong and
• 5:46
  determined woman. I've often wondered what kind of
• 5:51
  love Naomi poured out on her two daughters in law that could
• 5:54
  inspire such devotion on the part of Ruth.
• 5:58
  What kind of woman was Ruth to count all things loss to that of
• 6:03
  loving and caring for Naomi, to remain in close relationship
• 6:07
  with her? We see such devotion reflected
• 6:11
  in the passionate outpouring of the apostle Paul in Philippians
• 6:15
  3. But whatever gain I had, I
• 6:19
  counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
• 6:23
  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing
• 6:27
  worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
• 6:31
  For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count
• 6:36
  them as rubbish in order that I may.
• 6:40
  I may gain Christ, that I may know Him and the power of His
• 6:45
  resurrection, and may share in his sufferings, becoming like
• 6:50
  Him and His death. Like Ruth, his devotion to
• 6:54
  Christ was all-encompassing. Nothing could compare to
• 6:58
  relationship with his Saviour. Everything Paul was before he
• 7:03
  met Christ was as nothing to him.
• 7:06
  Every dream or ambition he had ever known meant nothing if he
• 7:12
  did not have Christ. It is not that Paul became less
• 7:16
  of who he was, it is that he found his fulfilment in
• 7:20
  identifying with Christ. In his living, his suffering,
• 7:24
  his dying, he became more because of Christ's presence in
• 7:29
  his life. Dear Father, I pray that we will
• 7:34
  be known by His set your loving kindness.
• 7:39
  May this be the defining quality of our walk with you and our
• 7:43
  fellowship one with another. Just as we see through the
• 7:47
  journey of Naomi and Ruth devoted kindness that points to
• 7:51
  your faithful love, may the world see in our treatment of
• 7:55
  each other your sacrificial love that seeks to redeem and restore
• 8:01
  right relationship with you. We will be finding you a place
• 8:07
  with the line. Amen.
• 8:12
  Thank you for listening to the Everyday Eurasia podcast
• 8:15
  Inspiring Faith for Everyday. For more Everyday stories,
• 8:19
  subscribe on this podcast channel, follow our socials,
• 8:22
  Facebook and Instagram, or our newsletter Snapshots.
• 8:26
  For our newsletter and further information about the Eurasia
• 8:29
  region, visit our website, Eurasia regionorg.