This is an extraordinary development from the God of surprises. Genealogies in the ancient world routinely contain long lists of men followed by their eldest son or sons and so on to the next generation. This is not the case here in the record provided by Matthew. In addition, there are four women included here as significant people in the redemptive history of the people of God, and in the direct line of the Messiah. Unlike Matthew’s first readers, we can so easily miss the significance of these names. Who is the first one of these women?
Tamar (Matthew 1:3) Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar Genesis 38 records the sad chapter in the life of Judah, who later would bring honour to his family and God in Egypt, but here went off the rails morally, in part due to his loss of self-esteem and apparently hopeless struggles as an apparently unsuccessful parent of his sons.
In the midst of that tragic situation we see Tamar, the widow of his first-born son Er; whom the second son Onan declined to marry upon his death, in line with the custom of the day, and then despite her loyalty to her late husband’s dysfunctional family, she is abandoned to fend for herself. In desperation to attract the attention of her backslidden father-in-law she poses as a prostitute, knowing Judah’s partiality to using prostitutes, and gets pregnant by him. After some appalling hypocrisy, this man eventually came to his senses and the realisation of the depths to which he had sunk.
It brought Judah to the place of repentance and eventual usefulness to God. The complex marital customs of that culture are so different to our modern Western world. But in that setting Tamar, instead of becoming (understandably) bitter and walking away completely, was determined to do the right thing. She took a risk getting pregnant outside of marriage, yet through that action fulfilled the purposes of God. She was an honourable young woman who would not let the appalling actions of men in her life turn her away from the ideals and principles with which she had been brought up. It is a story that warns us how far even believers can sink into sin (Judah); but gives an example of a courageous young woman who stuck to her principles and was eventually vindicated. Your situation may appear to have no way out. Your plight may feel hopeless. But God can find a way through and invites us to follow in His footsteps.
Our song for reflection today is: ‘He will hold me fast’
We are now in the middle of another week. Can I encourage you to put aside some time for prayer and reflection on our world today, and to remember each other in our prayers? We always have plenty to pray for.
Matthew 1:1: …the son of David, the Son of Abraham
Our race does matter. God created each of us to be who we are in Christ with our racial identity as part of that creation in the image of God. Genesis 1:31 states: God saw all that He had made and it was very good. The tragedy of racism is that those in power promoting it and those who feel powerless both have a distorted image of their identity as human beings. It is very hard in a society where racial stereotypes are sadly still in evidence to avoid being influenced by it. Having a balanced understanding of who we are is something we can achieve with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew’s Gospel was written by a Jew almost certainly for Jewish followers of Jesus together with Jews interested in exploring Jesus’ identity. They would have loved the prospect of exploring a genealogy whereas for most of us it is not normally viewed as exciting reading! A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).
The Jews were particularly careful to preserve details of their ancestral heritage. This was much more than a hobby; proof of their ancestry confirmed their link to the father of the nation, Abraham, and entitled them to claim the biblical promises for themselves. In this respect the uniqueness of the Jews as the chosen people of God stands out in the records of human history.
Matthew’s Gospel was written by a former tax collector and collaborator with the Romans called Levi. Mark (2:13-17) and Luke (5:27-32) record the story of his conversion.
Mark’s account stated that: Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’? 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Levi was becoming a very wealthy man, but also increasingly lonely, like one of his fellow collaborators Zacchaeus in Jericho. He was stunned that the popular rabbi Jesus of Nazareth would defy the social conventions and speak to a collaborator, let alone invite him to become a disciple. Jesus almost certainly changed his name to Matthew, meaning ‘gift of God’. It was recognition that an aimless life, in spiritual terms, had now gained a sense of direction and purpose.
Matthew had become convinced that Jesus was not only significant for him, but also for the whole Jewish nation. This point is made crystal clear in Matthew 1:1: A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.
This verse and its carefully chosen words is a very clear pointer to the fact of what Matthew understands about the person of Jesus. First of all, he refers to Jesus Christ. The latter name is a title not a family name meaning ‘the Messiah’ or ‘the anointed one’, with reference to the person prophesied about in the Old Testament. This is the person our ancestors longed to see coming in their generation. This is the person about whom a whole list of revelations were given through the prophets concerning His birth, life, death and resurrection, from the place of His birth, for example, given by Micah (Micah 5:2), an eighth century BC prophet; to the nature of his birth (Isaiah 7:14 / Matthew 1:20-23) to the nature of His mission (Isaiah 61:1-3 / Luke 4:17-21); to the manner of His death (Psalm 22 / Isaiah 53); to the fact that His body would not decay in the tomb (Psalm 16:10 /Acts 2:25-28).
The basic biography of Jesus could have been written before He was born from these Old Testament prophecies. Is there any other human being over the centuries whose life story, in terms of its major events, that could have been written prior to their birth? I don’t think so. Time and again in this gospel quotations are prefaced from the Old Testament with words like: then what was said by the prophet…was fulfilled (for example Matthew 1:22; 2:15, 17 and 23).
Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour, said Matthew. The question for each of us is this: what difference does it make to your life? He is the one whose birth led to the chronology of the world being divided up between events before it and those after it. Is He your Saviour and Messiah? As the angel would say later to Joseph: Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:20-21). Have you had your sins forgiven? They can be if you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Our song for reflection today is: ‘The Lord is my salvation’
Brian Talbot
Pointers for Prayer
We praise God for the reduction in numbers of people contracting the Covid-19 virus and a consequent decline in the numbers of deaths in our country. We are deeply grateful to the NHS and Social Care staff who continue to support those who have contracted this illness. However, we also pray for wisdom for the Governments in our country as health care services that have been put on hold are restarted enabling doctors’ surgeries and dental practices to reopen.
We remember other countries struggling with this crisis especially Brazil with its alarmingly high number of infections and deaths and the city of Beijing in China where there is a serious new outbreak of fresh infections.
We pray for wisdom for our Police Forces, together with local Government and legal authorities, when decisions are taken regarding matters of law and order at the present time including encouraging better practice from a minority who ignore the lock down guidance and in policing demonstrations and other responses following the killing of George Floyd on 25 May in Minneapolis. We pray for those teaching in our schools, colleges and universities, seeking to prepare for the next academic year at a time when the future is so unclear, together with young people and their families attempting to juggle work and family life alongside supporting their children in their school work.
We pray for our schools, colleges and universities as they endeavour to try and plan ahead for the return of children and students to continue their education in their premises as well as in ongoing online forms of learning.
We pray for employers and employees in so many workplaces with deep concerns how their work might take place safely in the coming months. We also remember those now out of work and young people seeking to gain their first jobs that each might find a place of work that fits their gifts and experience.
We continue to pray for the families that have been bereaved, in particular the Nyguist and Marshall families and ask for God’s strength and comfort in their time of sorrow, in particular as they prepare for John’s funeral on Monday 22 June and Bill’s on Tuesday 23 June.
We continue to remember those who are unwell and pray for God’s healing and restoration of health and strength, in particular for Ali Torbet’s mum.
We pray for those struggling with continuing isolation in their homes or residential homes and older members of the church in particular who are finding the strains of recent months particularly difficult.
We pray too for the missionary families we are associated with and in particular pray for Helen and Wit in Northern Thailand as they join us by zoom for morning worship on Sunday 28 June 2020
We pray for ourselves and our families and our own specific needs; also that we always make time each day to read His word and spend time in His presence in prayer.
We pray in advance for the online meetings and activities for all ages in our church family throughout this week and the service next Sunday
We want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who supported our care packages for local care home staff initiative recently.
We were overwhelmed by the amazing response. Kevin Clark one of our Deacons who came up with the idea explained that we wanted to thank care home staff for their work during this difficult time and we were able to put together 15 large “thank you” boxes to 12 care homes in Dundee!!
Special thank you to everyone in the community who donated, local shops who had donation boxes for us and who also donated items, staff from Ninewells ICU who donated goods and lots of local children who made cards and pictures to put in the boxes. 💖💙🌈
Our identity matters. Sadly, as we have seen so painfully in recent weeks, our racial background is more significant than we realised. A black British citizen may have a very different experience to report than their White British next door-neighbour, for example.
If I was to ask you to speak to the next person you meet and describe yourself in a sentence or two, it would be quite revealing what in that moment you chose to include and what inevitably was excluded from that choice of words.
For many of us, unless we are retired from paid employment, inevitably mention our career or job. For others, it may be as a parent or grandparent or some other form of words that highlighted that key aspect of our identity.
Historically in the United Kingdom, social class boundary markers were incredibly influential and no-one was in any doubt whether they were upper-class, middle-class or working class, now for most people these labels are less important.
But if one set of labels diminishes in importance others will arise to take their place. In Scotland, especially on the Western side of the country, asking someone: ‘which school did you go to?’ was not the innocent factual question it might appear on the surface. The answer you gave might mean you could bring that friend home to play after school or might get you a job in a particular place of work.
It was of course linked to the Irish troubles and whether you were of Protestant or Roman Catholic background. Thankfully, sectarianism is a thing of the past in most places; but polarisation can so easily occur due to a range of differences over, for example, racial or political issues. At its heart almost everyone wants to belong to someone or something, to a family, a group, a cause.
Very few people are content to lead an entirely solitary existence. For Jewish people, attachment to their genealogies and being able to prove their ancestral ties was central to their identity. Yet this innocuous-looking list of names is actually telling a story and making some clear points that would not have been missed by its first Jewish hearers or readers. At best it would have revealed some surprising names being included, but to others who particularly prized their ethnic purity these inclusions would have been shocking.
So what was Matthew saying as he paints the backdrop of the picture that prepares the way for the birth of Jesus? In essence, he was presenting a revelation of the purposes of God in salvation that would be fulfilled through the work of the One whose birth would shortly be announced. It also revealed an awareness of God’s planning well ahead of time for the birth of His Son on earth. Who would have predicted that God would have worked in this way?
Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds of an important message from God: For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord.9 ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
And, for us at this present time in history, where racism needs to be rooted out in our country; is our vision of God at work in us and through us too small to consider how He might use you and me to speak out and to model a way of life that contributes in a positive way God’s equal treatment of people whatever their racial background? The God revealed in Matthew 1 is most definitely a God of surprises! Read Matthew 1:1-17 and finds out more today!
Our song for reflection today is: ‘Will you come and follow me’
Life is like a tapestry that we see from the back with all its loose threads, a hint of a pattern but knots and an apparent lack of order add to the scene before our eyes. All our human friendships and relationships; efforts at school and work experience; successes and failures and everything else that makes up the lives we have lived –one day at a time.
Sometimes we gain a sense of perspective on what takes place and on other occasions we are puzzled and confused. Sometimes from the heart we cry out to God why? And may not get an answer like Job of old; the chances of it all ending happily ever after seemed as remote as it could possibly be.
Yet out of the tragedy that had befallen these women God was to bring something good that was beyond their expectations. There are times when we suffer the untimely death of a loved one or maybe the irreversible breakdown of a marriage or a bitterly disappointing business failure in which years of personal investment of our time and efforts and love, in the relationship contexts, or we are in the midst of very trying circumstances that could go on for years it would be unnatural if we never had some difficult and dark days in which we struggle to see how any good could come out of such situations. Or how things could possibly get better for us?
We remember that the scene began with a remarkable young woman in the midst of the wreckage of her personal circumstances who commits her life to the God of Israel who without a glimmer of hope before her begins a remarkable journey into an unknown future, relying only on God. The book ends with a genealogy –not usually most people’s favourite type of literature! But here the ethnic minority woman in Bethlehem becomes part of the family of Israel’s greatest king- David. Her marriage to Boaz produced a son Obed who was the grandfather of King David. What an amazing outcome! We are familiar with the story and know its happy ending, but such an ending was far from the thoughts of these women making the weary trek to Bethlehem. Yet in and through this situation Ruth was a blessing to so many people.
As we struggle to address the fallout from the Covid-19 virus as a society and equally find it so challenging to come to terms with the racism still so evident in our world, and so much more… The story of Ruth reminds us once again of an extraordinary God who takes great delight in using very ordinary people to accomplish great things in His service, Amen
Romans 8:28 reminds us of an encouraging truth: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.
This is the point of principle we need to always keep in mind each day of our lives. Even in the midst of the suffering and hardship many are experiencing around the world due to the effects of the Covid-19 virus pandemic God works for the good of those who love Him. Even in the midst of the struggles for racial equality God works for the good of those who love Him.
You can add any number of other challenges in the world today, but the message of that verse will still be the same.All of us have times when we are waiting expectantly for news. In the summer holidays many young people are usually hoping to hear good news regarding school examinations that can have an impact on their future careers, though this year it is particularly stressful for teachers and students alike due to the disruption of the education provision at every age level.
For other adults it can be news regarding possible jobs they have applied for, or whether their jobs have been saved after the disruptions of recent months; for others it is finally getting that hospital appointment that had been put on hold, or a range of other things. For those who have broken the law of the land in a serious way it is the verdict of the jury that they have to wait for.
At times the tension can seem unbearable as we seek to find patience to wait for the good news and encouraging outcome for which we hope and pray in these situations. Here was one of the ‘longest’ days of Ruth’s life. She had to wait at home while Boaz went to the city gates to convene a meeting with the expected kinsman-redeemer, the nearest blood-relative to the late Elimelech, in the presence of ten elders of the town of Bethlehem.
A crowd would have gathered standing around while this small group of men sat on the floor and discussed the future of this young woman. Both the two main men in the story were older men; the one whose name we do not even know had been most reluctant to get involved in the situation.
There is no evidence that he had even been in touch with Naomi or Ruth since their return to Bethlehem, but we cannot place too much weight on the lack of evidence as this is a very short book with a clear focus on the actions of two people Boaz and Ruth. It is clear, with hindsight, that this other man never considered being the kinsman-redeemer for Ruth as chapter four makes plain.
However, at the time, she had every right to be worried as she was not intending going back to Moab and would have felt obliged to accept the verdict reached by this local council of elders. For Ruth who had come round to the idea of marrying Boaz it would have seemed most unfair that she was in effect to be married after some kind of public auction, albeit mitigated by the fact that only men from the clan of Elimelech were eligible to come forward! Naomi had counselled her with these words in Ruth 2:18: Wait my daughter, until you find out what happens.
Waiting patiently is something that many of us, including myself, find difficult, we want the issues before us sorted out and quickly. Be encouraged with these amazing words from Isaiah 30:18: Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him! Amen
Our song for reflection today is: ‘God is working His purpose out’
There are times when events in Bible times seem so close to our own culture and context, but many others which appear to belong to a culture and social context that appears to be entirely foreign to our own experience. Naomi has noticed that Ruth appears to be getting on very well with Boaz and that he appears to have a genuine affection for her. He had been very careful to maintain an appropriate distance between them, yet at the same time looking out for Ruth and her welfare.
It is possible that this man, a widower, had counted himself out of the reckoning for obtaining Ruth’s hand in marriage, both on the grounds of there being younger maybe better-looking young men who had taken a fancy to her and more probably because he was not the closest male relative who could function as the kinsman-redeemer for her (Ruth 3:12). Naomi explains to Ruth that Boaz was a close relative and invites her to wash and dress in her best clothes and go down to the threshing floor and in effect propose marriage to him. In a culture where women as well as children were rarely heard or seen in the public arena it was an extraordinary suggestion.
Ruth was not to be seen to be pushy, in fact she was asked simply to lie down and sleep next to his feet. Why was he sleeping in a field rather than in his bed at home? The reason is that he did it to provide security for the grain harvested to ensure that some or all of it was not stolen during the night. It was a lonely place as his employees and any temporary workers had long since gone home for the night. He did not expect to have company and would get a shock when he woke up in the middle of the night.
Naomi made a prophetic statement in Ruth 3:4: He will tell you what to do. It was an invitation to Ruth to place her faith in this man. It is a beautiful picture of our calling to place our lives in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you trusted Him? Is He Lord of your life? Are you confident to place every area of your life in His hands or are there parts of your life that you hold back thinking (but never saying!) that you can do a better job? Have we not all tried to give the Lord a hand at times? Thinking and sometimes even politely suggesting to Him that the reason why our prayers have not been answered in the way we wanted is because the Lord is so busy that we ought not to burden Him with as many things to do. And if He doesn’t mind we will take the issue back from Him and take care of the matter ourselves, though we are more than happy for Him to bless our feeble efforts to sort out our own lives!
How did Ruth respond to this proposal from her mother-in-law: I will do whatever you say, Ruth answered. What a parallel to Mary’s words to the angel Gabriel in the New Testament, in Luke 1:38: I am the Lord’s servant, Mary answered. May it be to me as you have said. Is there an issue that you or I am struggling with today or over these past few weeks, months or even years and which we need to entrust to His care? Ruth as a young believer sets a powerful example for us.
Our song for reflection today is: ‘My heart is filled with thankfulness’
Morning worship online has moved to start at 10am and JAM at 11:15am on the Zoom platform.
You may want to use some of the Engage Worship resources for daily worship during this week.
The Messy Church At Home information is now available on our church website www.broughtybaptist.org.
We will be continuing the Prayer Livestream at 7.00pm. This will be another significant time of national prayer for us. Please join in and, if you don’t already do so, would you let your fellowship know about this and put it on your social media. The link to access the event is here.
JAM Kids’ focus:
Here are the links to the new series from Out of the Box for JAM Kids age group.
JAM young adults Ignite Live have a separate programme at 11:15am on the Zoom platform –parents of teenagers can get a link code by contacting Gary Torbet on garytorbet@btinternet.com
Call to worship: Psalm 89:1-2, 5-8:
I will sing of the LORD’s great love for ever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. 2 I will declare that your love stands firm for ever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. 5 The heavens praise your wonders, LORD, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. 6 For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? 7 In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. 8 Who is like you, LORD God Almighty? You, LORD, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.
We are grateful to Helen Rice for selecting the songs for worship for this service
Our opening song of praise and worship is: ‘Waymaker’
We continue to worship the Lord in our second song of praise and worship: ‘All who are thirsty’.
Opening prayer
Thank you Lord that You are amazing. We come with a sense of awe and wonder at what you have done in bringing this world into being and sustaining it year after year. We are such a privileged people to live in this beautiful part of Your creation. We are so conscious that we live in a troubled world with so many problems and difficulties.
However, we are so grateful that we can come with boldness in the name of Jesus into the presence of our heavenly Father with our praises and our prayers. We so much appreciate the blessed Holy Spirit working in our lives enabling us to accomplish all we have done in the past week.
As we gather today we come humbly confessing our sins and asking once more for Your forgiveness. Thank You for the reminder in the Bible that: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
We also ask for the enabling power of Your Holy Spirit to strengthen and equip us for the week that lies ahead of us. Speak Lord through Your Holy Word that we may sense You speaking into our lives in accordance with our needs, during this time of worship. We bring our praises and our prayer in the wonderful and precious name of Jesus, Amen.
Let us say together the words Jesus taught His disciples when He said:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'” For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever Amen.
Children’s (All Age) Talk
by Helen Rice
During this pandemic we have heard about normal people being described as Heroes as they have stepped out and bravely helped our communities and our nation. Our NHS staff, Care Home workers and Social care workers, Police, Paramedics, Teachers in hubs, Shop workers, delivery drivers to name just a few who have worked either on the frontline or in direct contact with the public. Others are volunteering to help their community and we’ve heard of stories of tremendous fundraising such as Captain Tom Moore and plenty more who we won’t have ever heard about.
When you hear the word Hero you might think about Super Hero’s such as Spiderman, Superman or Batman. They all look very normal too but each of them can change into a superhero with super powers. Jesus also looked very normal, in fact, that’s why many people didn’t believe he was a King. Spider man, Super Man and Bat Man are make believe with make believe powers. But Jesus is Real with Real supernatural powers!
We not only have a Real Super Hero watching out for us but he also wants to be our friend too and has done something amazing for us as we will hear about in this video of Jesus helping his good friend Lazarus.
Let us pray – Heavenly Father, we are thankful that Jesus is our Best Friend. We praise him, we love him, and we thank him for dying on the cross so that we might have everlasting life. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
The All Age Song – Superhero
Prayers for others
Thank you Lord once more for the privilege of praying for other people:
We give thanks that we are Jesus’s hands and feet on earth and can give a voice to the voiceless. We pray for issues of injustice, inequality and poverty whether locally, nationally or globally and ask that God would show each of us how we can partner with him in bringing justice to these situations.
We pray for those today who may once have worshipped God in our churches and who now find themselves jaded, faded, perhaps disillusioned by church and far from God. Pray that God might fan into flame any embers in their hearts during this time – perhaps through communication from a Christian friend.
In the Baptist Union of Scotland today we remember to pray for:
Peter Dick (Finance Director, BUS) – Please pray for Peter as he seeks to diligently manage BUS finances so that we can continue to support our churches across Scotland with many different kinds of resources.
Easterhouse BC – Pray that during this unprecedented time, God would continue to do new things in our hearts personally and together as a Church, as we seek to be His people in our families, frontlines and community. Pray we will receive His rest and look to Him for fresh vision in these days as we go forward into an exciting & new phase of the Church’s life.
Elgin BC – Like many other churches we are seeking to adapt to the challenges and opportunities that the current crises brings upon us. We are grateful for the technology that enables us to ‘meet’ and pray that through it all God will be honoured and glorified drawing many to Himself In these days.
Ellon BC – Please pray for God’s leading as we journey through these unusual times. That we would be a church that cares and sustains each other and that others will see something of Christ in that. Pray too for us as we look for new ways to serve the local community and that the current ways would also prove to be a blessing. We ask too for God’s leading and wisdom as we seek to make final decisions on a building project.
Erskine BC – Give thanks that we have been able to create a weekly online programme which is then made available through our church Facebook page and You Tube and that we can then use Zoom for fellowship. Give thanks that telephone calls and video meetups have kept the majority of our members, and regulars, in touch.
We pray too for the ongoing work of the Christian Churches in our land that You will help us be the best witnesses we can be in our local communities at this time. We thank you for the other churches in our local community and ask Your blessing on their work as we pray similarly for our own activities this week. In particular we pray for other people with particular needs that are connected to our own congregation:
The Nyguist family after John’s recent death and the Ford and Goodfellow families after the recent funerals of Jim and John respectively; we pray that You would comfort and uphold them and other families recently bereaved at this time.
We pray for Claire M and her family at this time after Bill’s death yesterday. We also remember Nina G after her recent admission to hospital and pray for a full recovery of her health and strength. We are aware of other, particularly older members who have ongoing health difficulties and pray for God’s strength for them at this time.
We pray for those exhausted with heavy work schedules that you would renew their health and strength, and for those struggling with the limitations of lock down that you would give them Your peace at this time. In particular, we remember … In addition, we bring our own needs to You at this time … in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.
Bible reading
When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
2 The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshipped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, ‘He is good; his love endures for ever.’
4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5 And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God.
6 The priests took up their positions, as did the Levites with the LORD’s musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the LORD and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, ‘His love endures for ever.’ Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.
7 Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the LORD, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions. 8 So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him – a vast assembly, people from Lebo Hamath to the Wadi of Egypt.
9 On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more. 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their homes, joyful and glad in heart for the good things the LORD had done for David and Solomon and for his people Israel.
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, 12 the LORD appeared to him at night and said: ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 ‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 17 ‘As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, “You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.”
19 ‘But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple which I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, “Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?”
22 People will answer, “Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them – that is why he brought all this disaster on them.”’
II Chronicles 7:1-22
Before we come to listen to God’s Word let us sing: ‘Speak O Lord’
The Message
Pre-recorded video message available below.
II Chronicles 7:14 If My people…will humble themselves and pray
Introduction
Many years ago when fountain pens and ink were used by children in school and desks were still issued with ink wells, the following incident apparently took place in a classroom. It began with a question out of the blue from a child to the teacher: ‘Is God everywhere?’ asked the child. ‘Yes dear’ said the unsuspecting teacher keen to move on to the work in hand. ‘Is he in my inkwell, then?’
A significant pause occurred as the teacher sensed the conversation might be heading in an unprofitable direction. A less than convincing ‘yes dear’ was repeated by the teacher. The child then quickly blocked off the top of the inkwell and exclaimed triumphantly: ‘Got him then!’
What is your understanding of God –who He is and what He is like? It is easy to smile at this child’s naivety, but how big is your view of God and mine? Do we try and fit God into a metaphorical ‘box’ of our own creation. Do we try and limit Him to work in ways that we have already determined? In effect, are we simply using prayer as a means to get Him to confirm what we have already decided is going to take place already?
Our vision of who God is will have a significant impact on how we pray and the passion with which we pray for Him to work. Solomon had at this time grasped something of who God is and this motivated his passion to pray for his nation. II Chronicles 6:18 states: 18 ‘But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You. How much less this temple that I have built! 19 Yet, Lord my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in Your presence.
Do you have a glimpse of this awesome God who reigns? Do you stand in awe of this majestic King who reigns over the universe? Do you bow with a sense of awe and wonder at the prospect of the return of the Lord of Lords who will come to reign for eternity?
We serve an incredible being, One who is too marvellous for human words to describe; too pure to tolerate iniquity; too holy to look upon sin, but too gracious to treat us as we deserve because of our sins. Instead showering His great love upon us in Jesus whose once-for-all-time sufficient sacrifice for sin took in full the punishment for our sins, so that instead of condemnation we might be welcomed into God’s family. This is our God! Do you know Him? Do you love Him? Do you serve Him?
II Chronicles 6-7, Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple, are central to the theology of the books of Chronicles and at the heart of the Jewish faith concerning the covenant between the children of Abraham and Yahweh, who made that agreement with their forefather Abraham roughly four thousand years ago. It is a powerful restatement of where these people and their nation stood in relation to the promises of the covenant with their Sovereign Lord. Solomon will plead the promises of God. He is determined to ask the Lord to honour His own name through deliverance of His people from a series of unwelcome situations.
The culmination of this encounter with the Lord will come in II Chronicles 7:12-14: The Lord appeared to him at night and said: ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a temple for sacrifices.13 ‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people, 14 if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
What a glorious promise! What an incredible invitation! What a solemn responsibility! God here invites His people on earth to participate in His glorious work through intercessory prayer. We are not called to say prayers, instead to pray from the heart crying out: ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’.
Solomon and his prayers (II Chronicles 6:14-42)
(a) The One addressed in prayer (6:14-15) 14 He said: ‘Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth – You who keep your covenant of love with Your servants who continue wholeheartedly in Your way. 15 You have kept Your promise to Your servant David my father; with Your mouth You have promised and with Your hand You have fulfilled it – as it is today.
Do we have this confidence in God as he did that day? It is the basis of successful praying that we believe in the One to whom we bring our petitions. We can take prayer for granted or even our relationship with God, but to grasp the amazing honour that is ours in coming directly into the presence of the King of Kings is an amazing privilege. To keep before us what is truly the significance of prayer will keep us active in it when we are tempted to drift in our prayer life and neglect to safeguard its place in our daily routine.
(b) The past relationship with God (6:14-17) 17 And now, Lord, the God of Israel, let Your word that You promised Your servant David come true.
On the basis of Your past promises I come with a sense of expectancy concerning what You will do in the present and into the future. God is unchanging. Psalm 90:1-2: Lord, You have been our dwelling-place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
Hebrews 13:8 reminds us: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today for ever.
Our time on earth is but a moment in the context of eternity, but we come to One who knows the end from the beginning before the world began. Therefore we come with confidence to Him.
(c) The plea to God (6:18-21) Yet, Lord my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open towards this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays towards this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray towards this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling-place; and when you hear, forgive.
In Jesus’ name we have free access to come to God in prayer (see Hebrews 4:16); ancient Israelites had to come through a human priest.
(d) The special occasions when people will pray (6:22-40) taking oaths in legal matters (6:22-23); after a defeat in war (6:24-25); in a time of drought (6:26-27); when natural disasters strike (6:28-31); when the country is going to war (6:33-34); when experiencing captivity and exile from the promised Land (6:36-40); each of these are seen as major collective crises where particular divine intervention is required.
(e) His concluding plea to God (6:41-42) God will You glorify Your name, in accordance with what You have promised, which by definition must be for the collective good of Your people also. In effect, Lord align our heart’s desires to seek that which is according to Your will –now that is powerful praying – how did God respond to that powerful plea?
The Response from God (II Chronicles 7)
(a)God’s visible response by fire (II Chronicles 7:1-10) When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshipped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘He is good; His love endures for ever.
This was neither the first nor the last time when God manifested Himself to Israel with this particular visible sign. After the appointment of Aaron and those with him to their priestly and serving roles, and all the appropriate ceremonies and sacrifices had taken place, Leviticus 9:23-24 states:
Moses and Aaron then went into the tent of meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell face down.
Our God reigns! Another example of the same phenomena came in the time of David’s rule after he had sinned by ordering a census of the armed forces. On the very place where God had directed David to purchase the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and offer a sacrifice as atonement for his sin- and collectively that of the nation –something carried out in full. I Chronicles 21:26 records:
David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. What is especially significant is that a generation later on that very spot Solomon stood praying for the nation and pleading with God: When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple…(II Chronicles 7:1).
This was holy ground, because God was in that place. God had been exalted and His people – and visibly their king –had humbled themselves before Him, and seen their prayers answered. Does it matter enough to us to see God answer our prayers for His glory and consequently our good? Covenant blessings are conditional on covenant obedience by God’s people Jew or Gentile in every generation.
(b) God’s answer to His praying people (II Chronicles 7:11-18) 11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said: ‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 13 ‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people, 14 if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there for ever. My eyes and My heart will always be there.17 ‘As for you, if you walk before Me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe My decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, “You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.”
Notice the key revelation from God was not dramatic or in public, but when Solomon was in bed one night thirteen years later (See I Kings 6:38-7:1, 9:10). Over the years in reading the Bible I have often failed to spot the lengthy time gaps between prayers for God to work by various people and the time it took to receive the answer to their prayers. How we need patience to wait God’s timing on so many things, in so many situations in our lives. The length of time is not determined necessarily by the earnestness of our prayers or the holiness of our lives, though both are important aspects of Christian discipleship.
God works on a much longer timescale than we do –failure to grasp this can cause us to become discouraged because of a lack of a visible response to the Gospel when we reach out to people, but when we do grasp it we can put into perspective current blessings and challenges. God is not like a heavenly version of Santa Claus who delivers his gifts because it is that date on the calendar again. If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves– what does that mean in practice here?
It requires a changed attitude with respect to oneself, a renunciation of putting self on the throne where God alone should be honoured and adored. This is one of the hardest things you and I can ever do. Humility is despised in our culture and taken advantage of –yet it was a characteristic of Moses [Numbers 12:3: Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth], who led a demoralised bunch of slaves and transformed them into a nation on the verge of inheriting a land God had promised to them.
It was a characteristic of our Lord Himself that the apostle Paul highlights in that hymn of praise in Philippians2:8: And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death –even death on a cross!
We sing: ‘It’s all about You Jesus…When the music fades All is stripped away And I simply come Longing just to bring Something that’s of worth That will bless Your heart I’ll bring You more than a song For a song in itself Is not what You have required You search much deeper within Through the way things appear You’re looking into my heart I’m coming back to the heart of worship And it’s all about You, It’s all about You, Jesus I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it When it’s all about You, It’s all about You, Jesus –Michael W Smith [CMP1016]
This is so easy to say but so hard to practise. Why? Because there are key moments in our lives when we so desperately want a particular outcome to our prayers that we cannot conceive of an acceptable alternative outcome! Do you / do I need the help of the Holy Spirit to come to this place in our lives? Undoubtedly on some occasions more than others –what about today? This is not something we can do in our own strength –only in His! If there have not been any times in your life when you have not seriously struggled with either accepting God’s will or finding it as a Christian then you are an exceptional person, as it is the norm.
It was for Jesus in the wilderness before He started His earthly ministry and endured the temptations of the evil one and as His ministry drew to its climax on the cross in Gethsemane and probably on a number of occasions in between. Wrestling with injustice, wrestling with tough choices for ourselves or other people is part of our human experience. Anyone who thinks following Jesus means your problems are over has been seriously misled.
What He promises is to stand with us in the storms of life and in humble dependence on Him be overcomers in Jesus’ name. Humility, that is a conscious heartfelt desire to put God and His will first in our lives, in whatever circumstances, is the position with which we come to the other requirements from God in this verse. and pray… this is the opposite of self-assertion, acknowledging God’s right to make decisions and ‘judge’ our life choices. The word in Hebrew here rendered pray is related to a verb meaning ‘judge’ in Hebrew. …and seek My face this is a single-minded determination to find out as best we can what the Lord wants us to do with our lives, sometimes in more general terms and on other occasions in very specific terms. …and turn from their wicked ways… this points to a conscious act of will; after discerning what God would have us do, the decision is made to follow that course of action, not just for a day but for the rest of our days, as far as we are able with His help.
This is what the human author of these words was inspired by God to write for our instruction and walk with God. The theory of being a Christian is the easy bit. The hard bit is living it in real situations with flesh and blood human beings in daily life.
(c) God’s warning to His people (II Chronicles 7:19-22) 19 ‘But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from My land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple which I have consecrated for My Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?” 22 People will answer, “Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them – that is why He brought all this disaster on them.”’
Covenant blessings in Abraham, or New Covenant in Christ are two-sided God’s part and ours; both parties must be faithful in fulfilling their obligations for blessing to follow. God has not changed. He will keep His promises. Let us pray…! Amen
Our song before we come to communion is: ‘O breath of life’
The Lord’s Supper
Jesus invites all Christian who have committed their lives to follow Him to participate in this act of worship. The apostle Paul wrote these words of Scripture in I Corinthians 11:23-26 to guide our observance of Communion.
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Prayer: Choose your own words of prayer to give thanks for the bread and wine that represent the costly gift of His body and blood for us.
Take the bread: Jesus said: ‘This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
Take the wine: Jesus said: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’
Our closing song is: There is a Redeemer
Closing Prayer Thank you God that you are interested in us both personally and collectively in our families and church families, as well as in our wider nation; Help us as a country to honour You in the laws we pass in our parliaments and in the way we live our lives as citizens. As Christians we want to be bold in speaking the truth of the Christian message, but also desire Your help in living out our faith in practical ways in our daily lives. Grant us the strength we need to accomplish all that we need to do this week, in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Saviour, we pray, Amen.
Benediction: The Grace
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore, Amen
Remember tonight the national online prayer service at 7pm on Facebook.
Living by faith is extremely impractical in the eyes of many people. Ruth came back to Bethlehem with no recognisable source of income and no known opportunity for paid employment at a time in history when there were no government schemes to care for the poor. We are thankful for the welfare state and in the UK for the extraordinary government scheme that pays a high proportion of the wages of people laid off temporarily until the lock down regulations are withdrawn. She had no guarantees of any assistance but trusted God to open up a way for her and her aged mother-in-law.
The issue for all of us is this: Will you and will I carry out the big or small task or tasks that the Lord lays on our hearts in coming days? Ruth was determined to take God at His Word. She had no prior expectations of what the Lord could or would do for her, except that she would trust Him to take care of her future and that of Naomi, while at the same time doing all that she could at a practical human level to make that a reality. ‘Work as hard as you can as if everything depends on you’ and ‘pray as hard as you can because everything depends on God’ have been Evangelical slogans down the years and have stood the test of time. Ruth would find out that God would not let her down and we too can experience that for ourselves as we commit our lives to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. What did God do for Ruth? He provided:
God’s Man (Ruth 2:1, 4) Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side from the clan of Elimelech, a man of standing, whose name was Boaz (Ruth 2:1). The author of the book of Ruth, in Ruth 2:1, allows us to grasp the key point ahead of schedule, that the man Ruth will meet is a close relative of Naomi’s late husband Elimelech, whose estate on his death passed to Mahlon, Ruth’s late husband on his father’s death. This brief explanation sheds a great deal of light on the remaining parts of the story. It was not luck or chance that this happened. It was God preparing the way to honour this young women. God has not changed. He is ‘Jehovah Jireh’ the God who provides what we need.God’s Place (Ruth 2:2-3) Ruth…said to Naomi Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favour. Naomi said to her Go ahead my daughter. So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz who was from the clan of Elimelech.
At the human level some people would say Ruth was lucky that she went to a field where the owner was sympathetic. As Christians we do not believe in luck or chance by contrast to many people in our land we believe in a sovereign God in whose safe hands we entrust our lives. We declare that in spite of our circumstances sometimes not because of them we affirm that there is a purpose to our lives and a plan for us which our loving heavenly Father has prepared. As a Christian community of believers we are here to pray for one another and to support one another through these difficult times, as well as rejoicing with others in our midst who have much to celebrate.
For Ruth and Naomi they had come to an end of their own resources but in the providence of God He was several steps ahead of them in His provision of a place for them. God’s place was back home in Bethlehem. Chapter one verse 22 indicates the wonderful timing of their arrival. It states: that these ladies were arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. May we in our time of need remember the words of Peter in I Peter 5:7: Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you.
God’s Method (Ruth 2:5-7) Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters Whose young woman is that? The foreman replied She is the Moabitess who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters. She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now except for a short rest in the shelter.
God will not work ‘supernaturally’ when ordinary means are available. At the appointed time soon after dawn before the hottest time of the day had begun Ruth presented herself with other widows and poor people looking for grain at the fields of the farmers engaged in harvesting their crops. Ruth is polite and asks permission to work in this particular field and the foreman agrees to her request.
Ruth was noted as a careful and diligent worker. She was not expecting handouts instead seeking to work to provide for herself and her elderly mother-in-law. Boaz and others present were impressed with the attitude of this young woman. When challenges cross our pathway the Lord expects us to do what we can personally to address the issues we face but can also use other people to be part of the answer to our prayers.
There are occasions when we have a miraculous answer to our prayers yet this is not the normal way issues are resolved in day to day living. However many of us can testify when we were literally at the end of our own resources that we have had some wonderful answers to our prayers.
God’s provision (Ruth 2:8-9) Ruth was noted as a careful and diligent worker. She was not expecting handouts instead seeking to work to provide for herself and her elderly mother-in-law. Boaz and others present were impressed with the attitude of this young woman. When challenges cross our pathway the Lord expects us to do what we can personally to address the issues we face but can also use other people to be part of the answer to our prayers. There are occasions when we have a miraculous answer to our prayers yet this is not the normal way issues are resolved in day to day living. However many of us can testify when we were literally at the end of our own resources that we have had some wonderful answers to our prayers.
God’s Grace (Ruth 2:10-13) At this she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed Why have I found such favour in your eyes that you notice me –a foreigner? Boaz replied I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband –how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.
Ruth recognised that she had no right to presume that this man would demonstrate such kindness to her as a foreigner. She could only hope for his mercy and generosity. Why had Boaz decided to act in this way? Because he had been greatly impressed by what he had seen and heard of Ruth’s conduct first in Moab and then back in Bethlehem towards Naomi. He knew that Naomi had no right to expect Ruth to come with her –once her husband had died she was free to go back to her family and seek another arranged marriage. However Boaz held the view that the Lord honours those people who honour Him even if they are not consciously motivated to recognise their actions within that perspective. God has not changed! Amen
Our song for reflection is: ‘How firm a foundation you saints of the Lord’
We come once more to the middle of another week in which I invite you to set aside some time today for prayer and reflection on our own lives and church community, as well as for others in the wider community and further afield . Ruth1
Your people will be my people and your God my God Naomi was making the right decision to go home to Bethlehem, but she had not dealt with the wrong decision she and her husband had made. It was most unfortunate that she faced the triple tragedy of the loss of the three most important people in her life in a very short space of time.
No-one, absolutely no-one can experience such a traumatic loss without very serious struggles to adjust to the new painful reality. However, at least in Bethlehem she would have friends or extended family members who would have tried to assist her, but to face these deaths in another country was particularly difficult so far from home. Naomi planned to compound her past failure by seeking to cover up what had happened in Moab by seeking to persuade her daughters-in-law to stay behind in their land and return to their families.
In Old Testament law the Jewish people had been told by God not to live in these territories where the lifestyles were inconsistent with the faith they proclaimed and most importantly not to marry outside their Jewish faith. Naomi’s two sons when of marriageable age had only Moabite girls to choose from! What else could they have done in that culture and context? I have a conviction that Orpah and Ruth had adopted the Jewish faith as their own when they married into this family.
This is only my reading of the situation –it is not explicitly stated as fact in the Bible, but it would explain the reactions of the young women especially Ruth later in this passage. Unfortunately, Naomi wants them to go home so that she does not have to explain why she had two Moabite daughters-in-law. This was a wrong motivation and her counsel was deeply suspect at a time when these two young widows, probably in their late teenage years, were mourning the loss of their husbands. Their willingness to go with Naomi to Bethlehem at potentially great personal cost is amazing.
However, the focus in this section of the story is not on Naomi, or on Orpah the daughter-in-law who chooses to go home, but on Ruth. Ruth 1:16-18 states: But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’ 18 When Naomi realised that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
The easy option for Ruth would have been to go back home to her parents as well. But her faith in God in this situation is both inspirational and challenging to us today.
It is inspirational: There is no hopeless situation when God is at work. We may not be able to see a way out of our difficulties, but He is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine… (Ephesians 3:20). Many of us today are struggling with the consequences of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. Whether it is our physical, emotional or mental health it is for some of us a new situation that we feel out of our depth to cope with. Here this courageous young woman displays a maturity beyond her years. As a relatively new believer in God she takes Him at His Word and will in time see that faith vindicated. Let us pray for the gift of faith in God or as a Christian a strengthened faith to trust God to get us through this difficult time.
It is challenging: The ‘elephant in the room’ here is that in addition to the crisis all are facing, Ruth goes to Bethlehem as a person with a different ethnicity without any assurance she will be welcomed by others in that community. We know the gist of the story looking back, but in real time Ruth may have had some genuine fears of how welcome she would be in that conservative Jewish cultural context.
Fast forward more than three thousand years, humankind has made far too little progress in promoting racial equality. Recent events and the stories some of us have listened to of the lived experience of Black people in our midst are distressing. The challenge to face going forward is this: will we keep listening and not just move onto the ‘next’ issue. Will we also pray asking God how we can play our own part individually in changing our communities for good in the coming days?
Our song for reflection is: ‘We’ll walk the land’
Pointers for Prayer • We praise God for the reduction in numbers of people contracting the Covid-19 virus and a consequent decline in the numbers of deaths in our country. We are deeply grateful to the NHS and Social Care staff who continue to support those who have contracted this illness. However, we also pray for wisdom for the Governments in our country as health care services that have been put on hold are restarted enabling doctors’ surgeries and dental practices to reopen.
• We pray for wisdom for our Police Forces, together with local Government and legal authorities, when decisions are taken regarding matters of law and order at the present time including encouraging better practice from a minority who ignore the lock down guidance and in policing demonstrations and other responses following the killing of George Floyd on 25 May in Minneapolis. We pray that as a society each of us may be more aware of the need to oppose racism and ensure that Black Lives Matter.
• We pray for those teaching in our schools, colleges and universities, seeking to prepare for the next academic year at a time when the future is so unclear, together with young people and their families attempting to juggle work and family life alongside supporting their children in their school work.
• We pray for employers and employees in so many workplaces with deep concerns how their work might take place safely in the coming months. We also remember those now out of work and young people seeking to gain their first jobs that each might find a place of work that fits their gifts and experience.
• We continue to pray for the families that have been bereaved and ask for God’s strength and comfort in their time of sorrow.
• We remember those who are unwell and pray for God’s healing and restoration of health and strength. We particular pray for Claire and the Marshall family as Bill’s health has declined rapidly in the last few days. We give thanks that Nina G is now home from hospital and for Jeanne P having her 85th birthday this week.
• We pray for those struggling with continuing isolation in their homes or residential homes and older members of the church in particular who are finding the strains of recent months particularly difficult.
• We pray for ourselves and our families and our own specific needs; also that we always make time each day to read His word and spend time in His presence in prayer.
• We pray in advance for the online meetings and activities for all ages in our church family throughout this week and the service next Sunday.
