No Longer Alone Through the Valley

Let’s visit another place. Let’s climb a hill. What could be happening in Moses’ mind when he saw a shrub burning? Perhaps he was astonished too. He pulled his ears. “A bush burning?” Maybe he slapped his right cheek and pulled his beard. There was a lump in his throat. Gasp! “I have never seen something like it. What is that glow? Is that a bonfire? Someone must be lighting a bonfire! Why would anyone light a big bonfire in the middle of the day at the corner of this mountain? Someone is playing a trick on me. That cannot be. I must be imagining things!”

Perhaps Moses also thought, “In my 40 years of herding the sheep, climbing this same hill, strolling in this terrain, nothing ever happens. I walk on the same sand, step on the same stones, almost leaving the same footprints. There is that same boulder, it is the same few trees, and I see the same narrow footpaths. It is the same sunny days. Nothing ever happened, but not today. I am really too old for this. I cannot do this anymore. I need a new job.”

With his trusty staff, perhaps Moses poked and tapped on many types of low bushes while taking his sheep to pasture. However, this one bush was burning non-stop. He was not about to swing his staff on this flaming one. No way. He needed his staff for his job. He wanted to go home with his staff in one piece. Wait a minute. Hold on a second. Nah, that could not be. Now wait a minute, just wait a minute. Moses stood there alone, all alone, no lambs in sight, staring at the fiery bush.

What if Moses just composed himself, pulled his right ear, pinched his arm, or struck his hand with his staff? Just maybe, just maybe, Moses got it. It dawned on him and he let out his mind. “Where have you been God? You placed me in this human-forsaken world of disappointments, discouragements and delays. What else do I need to learn? Did I pass the exam, surely I did. I came here every day with the flock that was not mine. Alone, isolated, all by myself. My father’s family was not here. So forty years I waited (Acts 7.30). Forty silent years I led my in-law’s flock around this region. You didn’t say a word to me. Suddenly, pooofff, You appear in this burning little tree? You could do better than this! What’s the deal here? Am I missing something?”

Perhaps out of nowhere, in half a split second, k k k r r r c c k k, whooofff, a flying twig smacked his face, “Listen wise guy, you’re not missing anything. Each day you are watching your father-in-law’s flock, I watch you everywhere you go. Every step you make, every hill you climb, every path you plod on this weary land, I watch over you like you watch your in-law’s flock of sheep. I never left you or abandoned you, not a minute, let alone a second did my eyes leave you. You are never alone. I am always and will always be with you. I have been watching you. I have been protecting you since you left Goshen, Egypt. I am the LORD.”

* * * After Naomi left Bethlehem for Moab, she left her world, her neighborhood and her friends. After many years in Moab, her husband and two sons died. She was left alone. Losing her husband and her sons meant she lost her home and her husband’s hometown property in Bethlehem. Her family might eventually lost their place in the tribal clan’s landownership book of records. Naomi also lost her youth and her motherhood. There was only left one thing to do. Naomi decided to return to a life she once knew.

Though seemingly she lost everything, Naomi gained a Moabite daughter-in-law. Ruth left her homeland for good and the only life she knew. She left her culture and her clan. She was ready to embrace change. Naomi and Ruth knew life would be tough, nevertheless both decided to return to Bethlehem. Both women knew not how to eke out living. They knew not how to earn their keep. They knew not any land to farm to provide for their needs. In ancient Israel traditional practice, family property did not come under a widow’s hands.

God quietly orchestrated the two women’s affairs. Although the book did not explain the details, God provided the women a place to stay. Ruth happened to pick up the scraps and leftovers from a neighbor’s grain harvest. Under Boaz the landowner’s watchful eye, Ruth brought food on the table. Ruth was allowed to work until the end of the harvest.

In spite of adverse obstacles, God’s plan B worked favorably. After Ruth married Boaz, God blessed them a son, named Obed. This was the little child that could. Obed brought blessings to Naomi and Ruth. And this little child became the grandfather of David the future king. And after many more generations, our Lord Jesus arrived to us through Naomi’s family.

God restored Naomi to her clan and her family property, subsequently her role as a mother and grandmother. The women in the village rejoiced with her saying, “Blessed is the Lord who did not abandon you without a relative-redeemer. The Lord’s name shall continue to be broadcast in Israel. The One who restores you shall prosper you and sustain you until the glowing years of your life. Your daughter-in-law loves you. She gave you a grandson. Her love for you is better than seven sons” (Ruth 4:14-15 my free flow translation). Naomi lost everything, but the Lord restored to her a family, a future, and a rightful inheritance.

* * *

For those who have been hurt, consider these thoughts. Accept God’s grace to heal the hurts. Leave the hurts to the Shepherd. Pray for strength to forgive. Forgiveness is hard when someone close to you hurt you. Only our Shepherd can help you in this department of grace. As you pray, throw at that person seventy times seven bags of God’s grace. Meanwhile vengeance belongs to the Lord. When something happens to the one who hurts you, place this person in our Lord Jesus hands. When you feel vindicated, sometimes it feels good to gloat over someone’s downfall, but as a child of God, we let God take over. Throw at that person a pillow full of God’s grace.