Episode 10: Maximizing the Middle
What happens when you’re not where you used to be, but you’re not where you want to be? How do you maximize the mundane and those middle grounds that seem so far away from where you want to be?
Our culture emphasizes happiness over contentment. To be happy means we’re pleased with our circumstances and bubbling with life’s outcomes, but contentment comes from a deep sense of satisfaction and gratitude towards life. Have you ever noticed how the people who seem the most content are often the people who have the most difficult life stories? The story of Ruth is a story of pain and heartbreak but you can see God’s hand working all throughout it which ultimately, leads her and the people around her to a place of both contentment and redemption.
When famine hit the town of Bethlehem, a man named Elimelek took his wife Naomi to settle in the pagan region of Moab. Their two sons married Moabite women and for a while things seemed fine—until Elimelek died, leaving Naomi a widow. Ten years later both of her sons died too, leaving Naomi with just her two daughter in laws. After hearing that her hometown is recovering from the famine, Naomi made the hard decision to travel back to Bethlehem. Her daughter-in-law Ruth insisted on traveling back with her, uttering the famous words “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.” Ruth had no idea what was next, but her obedience opened the door to a new life plan.
Sometimes a setback is a SET UP for a new thing God wants to do. To God, grief is never wasted. Grief is a door to trust and trust is a door to new purpose and power.
Sadly, Naomi was stuck in a bitter place When her friends reached out upon her arrival, she said “Call me Mara,” which literally means bitter. When we encounter pain, it can be easy to choose to grow bitter instead of better, but when we stay stuck in bitterness three things emerge:
Blame—we blame others, ourselves, and even God for the things that have happened.
Isolation—the more bitterness takes root, the more isolated we feel from people, hope, and the truth.
Numbing/Suppressed Anger and Resentment—we may try to numb our bitterness by substances, food, or suppressing the anger we feel towards our circumstances and what led to their outcome
Rather than get bitter, Ruth took initiative and began working the fields of Elimelek’s relative Boaz. She was soon noticed for her character and grace, and Boaz sought to rescue her as a KINSMAN REDEEMER. At the end of the story he marries her and ultimately becomes the protector, provider, and redeemer of her family. In a stunning turn of events, Ruth gives birth to a son who would lead the lineage of the ultimate REDEEMER…Jesus Christ.
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