I Will Follow You...

Week 18 Days 3 and 4
Intro (in my Bible) and Ruth 1

I actually read this a couple days ago but our life has been a bit topsy turvy this week.

Finally, I get a reprieve from war.

True, the chapter (and book) opens with  deaths.  Three of them.  Naomi lost her husband, then her two sons.

Not back to back, but still, that is a lot of loss in a ten year period.

My heart hurt for her.

So now Naomi is alone.  And not only alone, but she is living in a land (Moab) that is not hers.

So she decides to go home.

Isn't that what we all want to do when things are rough?  Go home.

Naomi wanted to go back to Judah.

At first, the two daughter in law, who I am sure were still mourning, followed Naomi.

I mean, they had a great sense of loss too.

And this was the one connection they had to their late husband's family.

It isn't like they had e-mail to catch up with one another once Naomi left.

This was it.

Naomi insisted that the girls return to their own homes. They were young.  They still had a life left.

I would like to think (and in my mind it is) it was an unselfish act.

They all wept.

Then Orpah kissed her mother in law and returned home.

But Ruth remained.

I have always wondered...was Naomi secretly pleased she still had a companion to travel with? Or did she just want to be alone which would certainly be understandable in these circumstances?  I don't know.

But it didn't matter.

Ruth was not going anywhere.

She was staying.

One of my favorite verses (that makes me think of the song) is Ruth 1:16.

But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge.  Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

Sidenote:  I really wanted to have the video link to Chris Tomlin's video "I Will Follow" that always makes me think of this verse, but it is not cooperating. :(

Anywho...

Ruth and Naomi travel on back to Bethlehem.

But the story isn't quite over then.

Naomi's friends are happy to see her.  But Naomi is still mourning.  She isn't just a sad mourning.  She feels bitter.  She even asks her friends to call her "Mara" which means bitter.  She felt the Lord had dealt bitterly with her and brought her back empty.

What strikes me about this is that we have all felt like that at some point in our lives.

And I don't know about you but when I feel that way, I feel guilty.

Guess what?

God did not strike Naomi/Mara down for feeling that way.

In fact, she was still to become part of a greater story.

Not that we should go through life in a state of bitterness.

But I just have to believe (based on this and other stories) that God understands.  And He loves us still.

Tomorrow:  Ruth 2

Reba

Week 18 Day 2 Deja Vu...All Over Again

Yes, I know.

M.I.A. once again.

The worst part is that I have read this passage a few times now.

I just had trouble getting myself to post about it.

The war stuff, the killing stuff.  It just makes my stomach turn.

I keep reminding myself if I will just finish this up, I can be in the book of Ruth which is not quite as gory of a book.

Blech.

Anyway, since it is summer, I have no excuse. I have more time to do stuff like blogging (though I never seem to have trouble blogging recipes...).

So I will try once again to get back in this routine.

I really will try.

Sigh.

Anyway, I have just read this passage (Judges 19-21) for the THIRD time.

And honestly, I still cannot bring myself to say much about it.

It made my stomach turn just as much now as it did before.

I know that the Bible is God's Word.  So there is a reason this story is in the Bible.

But that doesn't mean I have to enjoy reading it, right?

The whole time I was reading it, I was thinking about Sodom and Gomorrah.

I think the last sentence sums up all three chapters here.

From verse 25 of Chapter 21...

In those days Israel did not have a king.  Everyone did what seemed right.

And if you are brave enough to read these three chapters, you will see just how very true that is.

Blech.

Tomorrow's reading:  Ruth 1

Reba

Week 18 Day 1 Say What???

Judges 17-18

I will not lie.

I read this a couple days ago and haven't blogged about it because I wasn't sure what to say.

So this guy (Micah) stole silver from his mom. She (not knowing it was her son) curses whoever took it. He admits what he has done and returns it. Then she turned around, has an idol made from it, then gives that to her son.

Say what?

Micah builds a room IN his house just for idols.

Then a Levite come through town and meets Micah.

Micah, excited to meet a Levite, asks the Levite (who is unnamed as far as I can tell) to be his own personal priest. You know, because he is a Levite and all.

Say what?

Then these people from Dan come through as they search for a place to conquer and call their own.

They meet Micah and offer him a job as THEIR priest. They also take the idols with them.

Say what?

And to top it all off, the people from Dan go into a city of peaceful people. They attack the people, killing them and burning the city. Then they call it theirs.

After rebuilding the city, the people set up the idols.

Say what?

I see lots of thing in this story.

But God is not one of them.

Say what?

Next reading: Judges 19

Happy reading!
Reba

Week 17 Day 7 Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Judges 15-16

We will just say Samson and the Philistines had a volatile relationship.

I mean, Samson let a bunch of foxes with torches tied to their tails loose in the grainfields of the Philistines.

In retaliation, the Philistines burned Samson's estranged wife and her father. Like to death.

So in turn, Samson killed "many" Philistines.

Do you see a pattern here?

One thing I have to say is that Samson, even in all of his weakness (not physical weakness, but more weakness of the heart), had favor with God.

God gave Samson strength to ward off the Philistines.

God even opened up the ground to bring forth water for a thirsty Samson.

But I mentioned that Samson had weaknesses.

Like women.

And in much of this story, that woman was Delilah.

The Philistines apparently had figured out Samson's weakness.

They offered Delilah big money to find out the source of Samson's strength.

At first, Samson stood strong (sorry for the pun...it was only fitting).

But the fourth time Delilah came weeping to him about wanting to know his secret, Samson buckled. Big time.

He shared the reason for his strength.

His hair.

His never cut hair.

Of course, Delilah couldn't wait to share that information with her people.

And soon after, while he slept in her arms, Delilah cut off Samson's hair.

And at that moment, God left Samson.

In the end, Samson's hair returned. And even more, his senses returned.

In one last heroic action, Samson used his strength (returning with his growing hair) and the grace of God to bring down their temple. Several Philistines lost their lives, as did Samson.

In fact, Samson killed more Philistines in his death than he did during his life!


Tomorrow's reading:

I think it is Judges 17 and 18 but I am not positive. And right now I have a dog on my feet, so I can't check. :)

Reba

Week 17 Day 6 Sweet as Honey

Judges 14

I have to admit. I was a bit horrified when I first read about Samson's marriage.

Samson is running around town. He happens upon a Philistine woman.

He goes home and tells his parents he MUST have her. In fact, he pretty much demands that they get her for him.

They tried steering him a different way.

But he insisted he wanted her, only her.

And they fell for it.

As a mom, this horrifies me.

In fact, I was reminded of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". You know, that scene with Bianca (I think that is her name) who wants everything and demands her father give her everything. Her demise is when she insists on grabbing a golden egg (or was it a chicken) and got more than she bargained for.

That is what I thought of when I read about Samson.

However, before I got too incensed, I noticed one little part of the story I hadn't noticed before.

The LORD wanted this to happen.

Really?

Wanted it to.

It was part of His plan.

I don't know if this is necessarily the way He would have chosen for it to play out.

But ultimately, it was still part of His plan.

The other main thing I learned while reading this passage is that Samson is a strong man (he tore a lion limb to limb with his bare hands), but he is weak in many ways.

Especially when it comes to women.

And that is the downfall he deal with his whole life.

Tomorrow's reading:
Judges 15-16

Reba
PS The sweet as honey title refers to the riddle that Samson told his wife's people, teasing them.

Week 17 Day 5 A Heavenly Visitor

Judges 13

This is the story of a man names Manoah and his wife whose name I don't know.

They were from the tribe of Dan.

Once again, the Israelites had turned away from God.

He handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

Anyway, Manoah and his wife had no children.

One day an angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife (I really wish I knew her name) and told her that she would be having child. However, there were rules to follow. She couldn't drink beer or wine, eat anything unclean, and could never cut her son's hair. He was going to help save Israel from the Philistines, so he needed to be set apart.

The son's name would be Samson. (The angel didn't tell them that; Samson's mom named him that after he was born)

But what interested me about this story wasn't so much about Samson's birth. I knew a little about that. It was more about the messenger of the Lord. The angel.

The first time the angel appeared to Manoah's wife, she ran home to tell her husband.

In fact, she told Manoah that this "man" looked like an angel of God. His appearance was frightening.

Manoah, much like I would have done, prayed to God for the messenger to return.

Sure enough, the angel appeared AGAIN. To Manoah's wife.

She ran home to get her husband.

The angel reiterated the instructions from God to Manoah that he had already shared with Manoah's wife.

Manoah offered to feed this visitor.

The visitor refused, citing that he would not eat their food. Instead, he suggested an offering to God.

Then Manoah asks the visitor for his name.

The angel responds that the name is too "amazing" for them to understand.

So Manoah gives an offering to the Lord.

And as he does, the angel of the Lord went to heaven in the flame.

Later, Samson was born.

We forget, I think, that there is a whole spiritual world that we don't see.

Angels. And demons.

But there are.

And they aren't these cute little angels like we hang on the Christmas tree as ornaments with cute little halos and wings.

These are messengers of God.

They are not for us to understand.

But they are there.

Working for Him.

Tomorrow's reading:
Judges 14

Reba

Week 17 Day 4 Promises, Promises

• Judges 10-12

I know, I know, I had a short (well, compared to years, months would be short :) hiatus. I am not sure what happened. Life. But I am not making excuses. At one point I actually considered just quitting; I have already failed big time in doing this. But then I decided that would be failing God. It is a lot like my relationship with Him. Sometimes I am right there with Him, walking hand in hand. Other times I have walked away on my own path, not always intentionally, but it happens. Thankfully when I call to Him, he appears and brings me back home.

We are trying something new with the bigger kids...a family quiet time (after little ones are in bed...they don't know how to be quiet :). We are all reading different parts of the Bible, but we hope it will be a good reading time and prayer time together. We are faithful to pray with the little ones but we have gotten lax with the big kids in that area. We will see how it goes.

Anyway, Judges 10-12.

I read it back in January but never posted. So last night I re-read it. Here are a few things that stuck out to me:

• The Israelites went through a lot of judges! Just in these chapters alone, at least six judges ruled.
• Again, the Israelites suffered after the turned away from God. And again, after it got bad, they turned back to God, begging for His help. At first God said, "No way, you are worshiping other Gods!" But the Israelites, at least temporarily, felt really remorseful. They didn't just say they were sorry. They acted upon it. They actually threw away their idols and turned back to God. And again, He listened to them and sent an answer to their prayer.
• The answer came in the form of a man named Jephthah. I love how God uses the unlikely. Here is a man who had lots of brothers. But because Jephthah was a result of a relationship between his father and a prostitute, his brothers turned their backs on him. In fact, they forced him out of their home. Yet when the Ammonites came to fight against Israel, who did they turn to? Jephthah.
  
• One of the more well known stories about Jephthah is about his promise. He made a promise to God that whatever greeted him first from his front door (pending a victory), he would offer as a burnt sacrifice. I am not sure what his thought process was in making that promise. I mean, did he expect a little lamb to come running out the door? A goat? I guess he surely wasn't thinking it would be his one and only precious daughter. I have heard different things about this promise. It says he kept his promise. Did he really offer her as a burnt offering? Or did she just not marry? (I have read both theories) I guess I will never know. I do admire the daughter though who didn't throw a fit. Didn't say, "How could you?" She respected her dad and his promise; she just asked for some time with girlfriends to mourn whatever was to come.
  

Well, that is all for today. I will be back tomorrow. In fact, I have already read the next reading (Judges 13). So I have no excuse!

Reba