Ruth 2

The story of Ruth just gets better and better… if you count the number of times that “chance” comes into the picture, then Ruth is kinda like the “queen of TOTO” :p

First off, Ruth 2:3… “So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz,”. “…happened to come…”?? Come on! In all the fields of Israel, Ruth just happened to stumble by accident into the field of Boaz?? *eyes rolling*

Secondly, Ruth 2:3b… “… belonging to Boaz, who was the clan of Elimelech”. Wow, this Boaz, whose field Ruth “happened to stumble into”, was a relative of Elimelech, Ruth’s Father-in-law. Absolutely amazing…

Thirdly, Ruth 2: 4a… “And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem…” This kinda gives you the impression of a magic trick of sorts… ‘And behold, I shall now make this rabbit disappear!” Similarly, “And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem”. Come on… Boaz just so happened to come back from a trip to Bethlehem on the exact same day that Ruth “accidentally” happened to stumble upon his field?

With “luck” like that, Ruth should really have just bought TOTO, won $10mil and lived happily ever after with Naomi.

All these coincidences finally got through to Naomi and she finally understood what was going on. This was her response after Ruth told her of the day’s events…“And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be blessed by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!" [Ruth 2:20] Contrast this with the Naomi of Chapter 1. Naomi finally looked past her past and saw instead the goodness of her God, Yahweh. Not to say that God’s goodness comes only in the positive things in life, but I think Naomi better realized the sovereignty of God and his providence to all His people.

This is the same sovereignty that permeates to every nook and cranny of my life. The sovereignty that chose me to be His child and knows the day and hour of my final breath. Also, this is the same providence that not only works at the level of the miraculous, but also in the very mundance routines of life. A "veiled" providence so to speak.

The response that comes from knowing such a God? Total and Absolute worship. A God whom we should run to, that we might take refuge under His wings. Hallelujah :)

Quote of the Day

"When we're hurting deeply, so often what we need is not so much an explanation from God, but a Revelation of God"

Ruth 1

I’ve been studying Ruth in BSF, a book that I haven’t really studied in depth before. BSF lessons, coupled with online sermons from Chris Chia & John Stott, really taught me a lot… and I’m only at Ruth 1! Waiting in anticipation for what God wants me to learn from the next the 3 chapters :)

On a more serious note however, there is a lesson from Ruth 1 that spoke to me more directly.

[20] She said to them, (the whole town) “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. [21] I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back me empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?

Ruth 1:20,21 (ESV)

Firstly, something positive about Naomi— despite all that negativity she voiced out, she still recognized the sovereignty of God and addressed Him as Shaddai or Almighty. Tough times or good, let us never forget that God is GOD. He is worthy of ALL worship and forever sovereign. It’s HIS will that matters, and He’ll see to it that things go HIS way.

Back to Naomi… no doubt about it, her life in Moab was terrible, hopeless, a dead end. She lost her husband and 2 sons. All she had left were 2 daughters-in-law. What happened was tragic to say the least and yes, she needed her space to mourn for the death of her beloved. But when she was back in Israel, back to her God Yahweh, her eyes weren’t focused at what lay ahead. She was still pre-occupied with what she lost. A new hope (pardon the borrowed term from Star Wars :p) was set before her by God’s grace and instead of looking to see what God had in plan for her, she moped about what God took away.

And that was when I sat up and took notice. We’ve all dealt with loss before—in all its forms. And one thing’s for sure, its never easy. But Naomi’s attitude was based on self-centeredness instead of being grounded in godliness. The question of the moment: Was/Am I having this same attitude?

When God deals us a “bad hand”, do we mope and cry foul? Do we refuse to lift our eyes from the temporal because we want to wallow in our own filth and self-pity? Do we still look within instead of looking up to heaven, to eternity, to the gospel? Haven’t we learnt that it’s all grace? God disciplines because He loves (Heb 12:6), He judges to save us from condemnation (1 Cor 11:32). All is due to His unending grace.

Life is about learning. Change isn’t automatic for we’re still sinners. However, even as we grow a little older every year, let us learn to grow in wisdom too. Wisdom to know that the past is to mould, the present is to apply and the future is to hope.

Propitation

I used a big word yesterday--Propitiation.

Yes, say it with me.... prO-"pi-shE-'A-sh&n :p Anyway, I didn't say that it was a big word, pastor did. His sermon was from 1 Jn 1:5-2:2 and I was leading the Singspiration part of the Worship Service. My theme was simply this: Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins taken from the last verse of his sermon passage, 1 Jn 2:2.

"He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world".

1 Jn 2:2 (ESV)

I also meditated on Rom 3:23-26 during my preparation.
"[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

And here, I wanna give a short explanation on why I prefer to use the word 'Propitiation' (used in the ESV & NASB) instead of the one used in the NIV--'Atoning Sacrifice', or the one in the RSV--'Expiation'.

Definitions: (quoted from the Oxford Dictionary of Current English)
Atonement -- make amends (for a wrong)
Expiation -- pay the penalty for or make amends for (wrong doing)
Propitiation -- appease (an offended person)
[appease--to satisfy]

The first 2 words, 'atonement' & 'expiation' basically mean that someone has to make amends or to pay the price for something that someone did wrong. That's fine and dandy but if you notice, nothing in both words really describes well what that wrong doing was. In the NIV, 'sacrifice' is added to 'atoning' to indicate that something valuable and precious had to be given up to make ammends.

Which brings us to 'propitiation'. This word is different as compared to the other two. Simply spelt out, it speaks of mending the relationship with that someone who's angry by something you did. This brings out a new dimension that someone, somewhere is angry. And in the context of the Bible, 'propitiation' paints a clear picture that God is angry with us. Why? Sin. Sin absolutely repulses God. Sin absolutely disgraces God's holy name. In fact, from Rom 3:23 (look above), sin is to "fall short of God's glory". Therefore, angry is too... mild a word to begin describing God's attitude toward sin. Rather, the word 'Wrath' is used to describe this strong, holy, divine anger that God has toward sin.

Therefore, 'Propitiation' brings forth the point that God's wrath is against all man because of how they have desecrated his glory. And God's holiness, justice and righteousness disallows sin to be let off scot-free. (I mean, come on... if God lets sin pass by patting your knee and saying to you, "It's all right, I'm sure you won't do it the next time..." or "You didn't mean it right?", what kind of God will He be? Surely not a god that demands our total allegiance and worship) So, the wrath of God which was toward all man had to be averted. And this aversion is found in the death of Jesus Christ.

In a nutshell, this is propitiation: God averting his wrath toward man through the death of His Son.