"Whither Thou Goest, I Will Go"...

The situation in the land of Judah was one of hardship and a battle against climate. “Normally, the land was fertile enough to sustain fields of wheat and barley, grape vineyards and groves of olive and fig trees. But occasionally the rains failed, the crops withered and there was famine.” (Old Testament Student Manual) This is the land where the Book of Ruth takes place and where we see the story of an incredible strong woman named Ruth unfold. We can learn from her great example how to remain strong and unmovable no matter what situation we are in.  

Ruth faced many trials in her life, but she was a good example of how to remain strong and true during times of adversity. We learn in Ruth 1 that Ruth loses her husband as well as her father-in-law and brother-in-law. She is faced with a big decision about whether to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi or return to her home land. Naomi presses her to return to her own family and not worry about her. Ruth though showed how selfless she was by deciding to stay with Naomi to make sure that she was taken care of. 

I can imagine that Ruth struggled with the decision. She probably had family that she hadn’t see in a while that she could return home to. She also had no real tie to Naomi since she was her mother-in-law of her husband who was no longer alive.  I imagined she stayed though because she felt that she needed to stay. In the Old Testament Student Manual it talks about Ruth growing up in a different religion than Naomi, but she “was converted to the true God of Israel.” This feeling of devotion of the God of Israel probably allowed Ruth to feel a sense of devotion to his will for her which was for her to stay with Naomi. 

Boaz I think was so impressed with Ruth because of the devotion she had for the Lord and for Naomi. Because of this, and his own love and devotion to the Lord, he was kind to Ruth. He knew of the sacrifice that she had made for Naomi and he wanted to give back to her. We see by this example that by making sacrifices for others brings blessing from the Lord.

I have never had make as hard of decision as Ruth in my own life, but I do have one that is of a similar nature. When we were considering whether we should move to Connecticut for a good job opportunity we really struggled with the idea of leaving our family behind and being so far away. We felt that this opportunity was good for us and that this is what the Lord wanted us to do. Even though we deeply wanted to be with family, we knew that we needed to do what the Lord wanted us to do. After being here in Connecticut for a year and half, we now see the many blessings that have come from following the Lord. Everything has fallen into place for us and we know that it is because of the Lord. Looking back now, I know that sacrificing what we wanted for what we needed to do has been a blessing in our lives. 

From this experience and from the example of Ruth, I have learned that we have challenges in our lives for a reason. Sometimes we don’t know the reason why or the outcome of those challenges, but we must be willing to put our trust in the Lord because he knows what is best for us. I know that every time I have done that in my own life, I will look back and see the blessings and reasons for that challenge. Let us all follow the Lord and try better at facing challenges head on with faith that they will make us stronger and bless our lives for the better.

What we can learn from the Book of Judges...

The word judge back in the time of Israel held a different meaning than the word means in our day. “The English word ‘judge’ doesn’t well describe these leaders. Thought the root of the Hebrew word used means primarily ‘to judge,’ it is used secondarily also in the extended meaning ‘to govern.’ (Rasmussen, Introduction to the Old Testament) Rasmussen goes on to explain that most of these judges were military heroes that gave advice to the people and helped in “rendering decisions.” They were there to help govern the people and show them how to return back to righteousness and following the Lord. 

At the very beginning of the Book of Judges, we read about the different tribes of Israel and their conquests to destroy the Canaanites and other civilizations that the Lord commanded them to overtake. Some tribes completely destroyed those civilizations which is what the Lord wanted them to do, but some of the tribes allowed the Canaanites to continue to dwell with them. This angered the Lord, so he sent an angel to rebuke them by saying “ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their alters; but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?” (Judges 2:2) In the next verse the angel warns Israel that because of their disobedience that the Canaanites will “be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.” Israel shows remorse for their actions and that generation served the Lord all of the rest of their days.

“There arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” (Judges 2:10) This generation became very wicked. They bowed down to false idols and gods and began worshiping those gods of the people that they dwelt with. They also intermarried with the Canaanites and other civilizations. This angered the Lord and He allowed Israel to fall into the hands of their enemies. He also raised up judges to rescue Israel from their enemies and hopefully bring them back to righteousness. The problem was that as soon as a judge would die, the people would go right back to their wicked ways of worshiping false idols and gods. 

One of these judges that the Lord raised up to help Israel was Deborah. Israel at the time had become wicked yet again and the Lord caused them to fall into the hands of their enemies.  Israel cries unto the Lord because of their oppression and the Lord raises up Deborah, a prophetess, to help in conquering Israel’s enemy and setting them free.  The Lord is with the army that Deborah puts together and they defeat the enemy of Israel.  Deborah praises the Lord “for the avenging of Israel.” (Judges 5:2) After this, the Israelites did good and remembered the Lord for forty years. 

These examples and many more show us the consequences that Israel paid because they failed to follow the Lord’s command to rid themselves completely of the Canaanites. Because of this disobedience, many generations fell to the traditions of the Canaanites and became very wicked. This whole scenario speaks a very loud message about our responsibility as parents or future parents. We see the importance of keeping the commandments of the Lord and the effect that those actions can have on our future generations. Even though the generation of Israel that disobeyed the Lord’s command repented, their actions affected their future generations and had very devastating results. We must make sure that we not only make wise decisions in our own lives, but we must teach our children about God and his commandments and share with them our spiritual experiences and conversions so they will not grow up not knowing the Lord. We must also make sure that we protect them while they are young and not expose them to situations that could harm them or negatively influence them. We must also make sure that we rid ourselves and our homes completely of sin or bad behaviors so they do not continue to fester and overtake our families.  

There is much to learn from the stories of the children of Israel. As I have been reading through the Old Testament I keep asking myself how Israel could so quickly turn back to evil ways after being blessed by the Lord time and time again. I have come to a realization that many of us, including me, are guilty of the same sins that Israel was. How many times on a daily basis are we blessed by the Lord and we don’t stop to recognize it? How many times do we worry about having the nicest car, focusing our time on things that are worthless in the end, or go into endless debt to keep up with the world’s standard of wealth? I hope that we can all learn from Israel’s ups and downs and realize that true wealth and happiness can only come from what the Lord offers us, not the world. Let us all make a better effort to be thankful for all our blessings and to continually remember the Lord and keep his commandments.

Israel Commanded to Destroy the Wicked...

“And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, no shew mercy unto them.” (Deuteronomy 7:2) In Deuteronomy we read about the Lord commanding Israel to destroy certain nations because of their wickedness and worshiping of false idols and gods. The Lord commands Israel to go into these nations and destroy all of their false idols and also their places of worship. These are the nations that the Lord commanded Israel to destroy when he delivered them into their hands: 

·         Hitties

·         Amorites

·         Canannites

·         Perizzites

·         Hivites

·         Jebudites

 Among these nations were the Canaanites. The Lord commanded Israel to destroy the Canannites because they had become so wicked and evil “that only just reparation is the death of the guilty parties.” (Old Testament Student Manual) There was no other way for God to show mercy unto the Canannites than to destroy them. They had gotten to the point where if God had allowed them to survive their wickedness would have spread to Israel and destroyed it as well. Some of the sins that the Canannites committed were idolatry, prostitution, homosexuality, inter-marriage, etc. Some may see this destruction as God not being merciful, but He was in fact very merciful and had given the Canannites plenty of time to change their ways. “God’s patience allowed them a few centuries from Abraham’s day to Joshua’s and then His judgment was ordered executed.” (Old Testament Student Manual)

Reading these scriptures and the Old Testament Student Manual scared me a little because I see many similar sins being committed in our own society. One quote that really stuck out to me in the Old Testament Student Manual was the following: “Prostitution and homosexuality had become religious practices to the point where the people were entrenched in depravity and proud of it.” I see the sanctity of chastity and the importance of marriage between a man and a woman getting lost in our society. In our recent election, states voted to legalize gay marriage and to add to the number of states that have already made it legal. We see people standing up for this wickedness and taking pride in it. We know from the scriptures and from the example of the Canannites that the Lord looks down on this behavior. 

We are also a society (especially in the United States) that focuses a lot on material objects and puts a lot of importance on obtaining them and showing them off. How many times do we place focus on worldly things more than God? If we place anything in priority above God then are we not too guilty of worshiping false idols? This is something that I know I have struggled with and it is hard to remain focused on God when everything around you is vying for you full attention. We must look to the consequences that the Canannites and other nations have suffered because of their wickedness. We must be careful that we don’t get swept away in all the empty promises of the world and that we truly value what is important. Let us remember to love our Savior and put Him first in our lives and as we do that everything else will work itself out and we will be able to retain the promise that we will be protected in our righteousness.

What we can learn from the story of Balaam...

In Numbers 22 we are introduced to Balak and Balaam. Balak, the king of the Moabites, wanted to take down Israel. To do this, he turned to Balaam whom he had heard “had a reputation for being able to bless and curse with great effect.” (Old Testament Student Manual) Balak offered Balaam many worldly treasures if he would complete this task for him. The Lord told Balaam not to do what Balak had recommended but in the end Balaam went against the Lord’s counsel and went out with Balak’s men to curse the Israelites. The Lord was unhappy with Balaam and sought to teach him a lesson because of his disobedience. An angel appeared blocking Balaam’s path which caused his donkey to go wild. In the end, the donkey rebuked Balaam for his actions and Balaam was “troubled because of his attempt to serve both God and mammon.”  (Old Testament Student Manual)

How many times in our own lives do we try to serve both God and mammon? We learn from Matthew 6:24 that “no man can serve two masters: for he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” It is not possible for us to be fence sitters when it comes to God and the temptations of the world (Satan). There are many times when we try to do both, but in the end we succumb to one or the other. The story of Balaam shows us that even though the enticements of the world seem exciting to us they can only leads us to sorrow and retribution in the end if we abandon the Lord. 

After being rebuked by the Lord, one would think that Balaam would remove himself from being in the presence of Balak who was his ultimate source of temptation at the time. We see this is not the case as we read on further in Numbers. Balaam actually continues to spend his time with Balak and to complete the tasks that he asks of him. Why did Balaam continue to be around Balak even though the Lord told him before that what Balak had asked him to do was not in accordance with what the Lord wanted done? Balaam still wanted approval in Balak’s eyes so he continued to be around him and to do those things that were asked of him. The Old Testament student manual gives further insight into this by saying “when [Balaam] saw that he could not earn Balak’s commission by cursing Israel directly, he told Balak that God would only bless Israel when they were righteous. Thus, Balaam became a symbol of those who use their callings and gifts to get gain and pervert the Lord’s people.” 

The example of Balaam shows us the true power that being in the presence of temptations has over us. We may feel like we are strong and can handle being around temptations, but eventually it will wear us down and we will succumb to that temptation in a matter of time. We need to make sure in our own lives that we avoid the appearance of evil and keep ourselves far away from those things that are temptations to us. The Lord cannot protect us if we continue to allow ourselves to be in situations where He disapproves of and His Spirit cannot dwell. 

We learn from this story that in the end righteousness always wins over wickedness. In Number’s 31:7-8, Israel destroys the wicked Midianites including Balaam. Balaam was a man of God in the very beginning and if he had lived according to God’s will he probably would have had another ending. But because he choose to follow the enticings of the world and took part in leading many people astray, he ended up being destroyed. This story should be an eye opener to all of us as it has many applications to our lives today. We need to be diligent in following the ways of the Lord and make sure that we do not get distracted by what the world has to offer us. Remember that the Lord has so much more to offer than the world!