Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E90 | Everyday Eurasia | Linda Louw

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S1-E90 | Everyday Eurasia | Linda Louw · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
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  with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
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  many different places around the world.
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  Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
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  him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
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  all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
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  day. Through this podcast, you'll
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  hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
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  reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
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  This week, we're joined by Linda Law.
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  She has been a missionary for 26 years, a mother of four precious
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  daughters for 37 years, and wife to a strategic and wonderful man
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  for 40 years. She has lived in seven different
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  countries on four different continents.
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  She is a graduate of Point Loma Nazarene University and has at
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  varying times been a full time elementary teacher, mom and
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  pastors wife. Linda is now pursuing ordination
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  as an Elder in the Church of the Nazarene.
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  Her current assignment is Coordinator for Advocacy for
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  Women in Leadership on the Eurasia Region.
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  She's passionately desires that all people, especially women,
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  are provided with opportunities to lead within the Church as
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  laypeople and as ministers. With Naomi arrive in Bethlehem,
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  Naomi is home, but her spirits are not revived.
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  She's worried now, physically and emotionally, and the women
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  of Bethlehem greet her, surprised at her return.
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  She tells him not to call her Ruth, which means pleasant.
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  But Mara fit her, for God has dealt bitterly with her.
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  When she left Bethlehem, she was full, a married woman with two
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  sons. Her future seems secure now.
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  She has returned empty. At this moment, she might even
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  view herself as worse than empty.
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  As much as she loves Ruth, foreign daughter-in-law and
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  Judah might be a liability. She is a reminder of Naomi's
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  unfaithfulness in making her home among foreigners and
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  allowing her sons to marry into neighboring tribes which God had
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  sternly told them not to do. So here she is, running on empty
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  and unsure of a welcome in her hometown.
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  She blames God for her misery. However, Chapter 1 ends with
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  these words. Barley harvest was beginning.
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  After years of famine, the grain was ready to be harvested.
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  Bethlehem will again be the House of bread.
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  In those few words, Ruth found a reason to hope.
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  According to God's law, it was mandatory that the field workers
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  leave the borders of their fields unharvested.
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  For widows, orphans, and strangers to harvest.
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  It was a way for the needy and destitute to provide for
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  themselves and their families with dignity.
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  It was in this custom that Ruth found hope and she courageously
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  acted upon it. There was no guarantee that this
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  would be an easy going thing for Ruth.
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  Had Naomi gone with her, it might have eased her way through
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  her. She might have found acceptance.
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  Two women, especially an older, respectable, respectable widow,
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  might not have seemed so vulnerable or suspect.
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  But here she was, a foreigner with foreign ways, a young
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  woman, alone and seemingly friendless.
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  She had no idea what would she she would find in the fields.
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  She hoped she would find favour, but in the day of the judges
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  this was a slim chance. But Ruth is determined to find a
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  way for them. Once at the fields on the
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  outskirts of the town, Ruth asked permission to glean.
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  And it just happens that she finds herself in the field of
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  Boaz. And even more surprisingly, he
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  has also come down from Bethlehem to supervise the
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  harvest. As a landowner, this was a job
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  that could be done by a paid manager, aunt, and an even
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  stranger turn of events. As Ruth will discover when she
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  returns home, Boaz is a kinsman to Naomi.
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  And to add one more layer to the string of events, Boaz is
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  himself the son of a foreigner, Rahab the prostitute, the God
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  who Naomi was certain was punishing her, had been at work
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  all along. He had a purpose and a plan for
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  this destitute widow. Boaz notices Ruth who was
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  waiting to speak to the owner of the field.
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  He has heard her story, how she has left home and family to care
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  for her mother-in-law. He charges the man to leave her
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  alone, cautions her to stay with the other young women, and
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  instructs her to glean even where they are currently
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  harvesting, which is even more than the law demands.
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  Here again we see Chasseade mercy, grace and kindness being
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  displayed, not because he has benefited from Ruth, but because
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  of the kind of man he was and the respect he had for the kind
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  of woman she was. Ruth said her kindness for Naomi
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  called forth his own has said and proved Yahweh's has said.
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  Boaz blesses Ruth in verse 12. The Lord will pay you for what
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  you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord the God
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  of Israel. Under His wings you have come to
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  take refuge. And Boaz continues to be their
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  source of blessing, allowing Ruth to glean until the end of
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  the barley and wheat harvest. The chapter began with Naomi
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  Bitcher blaming God for the harsh circumstances of her life.
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  Ruth leaves to provide them with whatever resources are available
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  to them. She returns home carrying hope
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  in a basket. Naomi ends the chapter with a
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  blessing. May he Boaz be blessed by the
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  Lord, whose kindness Hussad has not forsaken the living or the
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  dead. Years later, the author of
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  Lamentations in chapter 3 would echo Naomi's experience.
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  I have forgotten what happiness is, so I say.
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  My endurance has perished, so has my hope from the Lord.
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  I remember my affliction and my wanderings, the Wormwood and the
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  gall. My soul continually remembers.
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  It is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and
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  therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord
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  never ceases. His mercies never come to an
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  end. They are new every morning.
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  Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my
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  soul. Therefore I will hope in Him.
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  Dear Father, our hope is you alone.
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  Sometimes we are bowed down with the weight of all of our
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  troubles, and there seems no way out.
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  May we be like Ruth, who saw the harvest as a reason to hope like
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  her. May we seize the opportunities
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  you place in our way. As we face each new day, remind
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  us that we have a choice to remember the bitterness and
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  afflictions, or to hope and your steadfast love and your endless
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  mercies. Amen.
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  Thank you for listening to the Everyday Eurasia podcast
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  Inspiring Faith for Everyday. For more Everyday stories,
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  subscribe on this podcast channel, follow our socials,
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  For our newsletter and further information about the Eurasia
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  region, visit our website, eurasiaregion.org.