Loving me through

Have you ever felt punished by God?  Sure that He has brought on all my trouble, I have felt abandoned, unloved and worthless.  How far from the truth that is!  Oh, don’t get me wrong, God punishes sin; He hates it, in fact.  But abandon and hate (not love) you and me – His creation?  There is nothing farther from the truth.

Those thoughts and feelings are not from the God Most High nor the King of Kings.  That is not how your Creator and our Redeemer works.  That simply cannot be.  Do you know the story of Naomi and Ruth?  Naomi is a widow who was widowed for about 10 years and then lost both her sons too.  She and her husband had moved away from their home and faith.  Now, she was alone and felt abandoned.  Ruth was one of her daughters-in-law.  Since Naomi’s husband and sons were gone, she decided to go back to her people and it was Ruth’s “duty” to go with her.  Even though Naomi made no obligation to Ruth, and actually told Ruth to stay with her people, Ruth insisted on following Naomi home.

Naomi felt abandoned by God.  Who wouldn’t?  Her husband was gone, her sons dead.  No money, no food, nothing.  Nothing but God.  When she arrived “home”, she told her friends her new name was “Mara”.  Here’s the scripture (Ruth 1)

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara,

because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.

I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty.

Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty

has brought misfortune upon me.”

 

She was pretty upset, wasn’t she?  Who wouldn’t be?  Losing everyone you love, being alone.  But she was not alone.  God put Ruth with her and He was there too, right by her side. 

Because of her circumstances, Naomi didn’t see Him though.  All she saw was what was negative – only what she could see and what she knew.  She didn’t see God at all, did she? 

Fast forward, a “caretaker” comes forth and takes care of them.  His name is Boaz.   Boaz ends up marrying Ruth and actually they are part of the lineage of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

So my question to you today is, did God abandon Naomi like she thought?  Did He “afflict” her and bring misfortune?  To answer that question, I think we should look into the attributes of our God.  Faithful and true – holy, loving, majestic and almighty.  He is above all things, knows all things and sees all things.  Don’t take my word for it, look into what Scripture says:

For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does.  The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love. (Psalm 33)

Who among the gods is like You, Lord?

Who is like You— majestic in holiness,

awesome in glory, working wonders? (Exodus 15)

 

When we just look at ourselves and the circumstances, we see only that.  But when we look upward – or heavenward – we see more.  We see a God who loves and cares and knows all.  He knows your doubts, He knows your feelings of abandonment.  And best of all, He knows what to do about them.

I call that, “loving me through” – for you see, God has loved me through so much that I don’t have enough “blog room” to tell you.   Let me just say that God has loved me through abandonment, infertility, a firstborn with a heart condition, marriage crises, death-beds, etc.

By “loving me through”, I mean God never left my side.  He tenderly took care of me when no one else could.  He spoke words of love to me (His Word), He listened to my prayers, and He filled my heart.  He showed me, beyond a doubt, Who He was and what He wanted.  My best.

Why did He do that, you might wonder and how do I know?  Don’t you know that you (and me!) bring joy to Him Who’s Name we praise?  We are His creation, His idea – His. 

He sent His Son to be a sacrifice for you and for me.  He loved us right through to heaven, so to speak.  Because without the sacrifice, the offering of love, there would be no “through” – we’d be going nowhere.  But BECAUSE of the sacrifice and the love, we are going somewhere, aren’t we?  

Revelation 4 says it best (I think):

You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.”

We were created for God’s glory – not to be abandoned or to be afflicted – but for His glory.  I pray you know this Savior who died for you and loves you through everything, no matter how long it takes or what it is - forever and ever. And all God’s people said, “AMEN!”.