Fri.’s Devo - The Natural Vs. the Supernatural

Read: Judges 21:1-Ruth 1:22; John 4:4-42; Psalm 105:1-15; Proverbs 14:25 Yesterday we read where 600 men of Benjamin fled to the rock of Rimmon and lived hiding out. The rest of their tribe had been killed by all Israel. *** After the annihilation of most of the tribe of Benjamin, the tribal leaders were sad that they would be minus a tribe. They had sworn not to let their daughters marry any man from Benjamin and now they would die out. They found one city that had not showed up to fight which was Jabesh-Gilead. They raided that city and killed everyone but the virgin girls. They brought back 400 for the 600 men. Now they needed to find 200 more. Since they were doing what was right in their own eyes, they connived a plan to get the other 200. *** Every year, they had a festival in Shiloh and the virgins would do a dance. They told the 200 wifeless Benjamites to hide out in the vineyards and when it came time for the dance, they could run out and steal a woman and take her home as his wife. They reasoned that since they didn’t “give” these woman to them - they “stole” them, then they would not fall under their own curse. *** Everything about this story probably led to the story of Ruth. Famines are not random, they are an act of God to punish a nation who had turned from him and stopped making him their king. In the story about the concubine, you never read of them asking God for his opinion. They just did what they wanted. ***The famine was so severe in Israel that a man from Bethlehem named Ebimelech, took his wife, Naomi and two sons, Mahlon and Kilion to the land of Moab to live. Elimelech soon died, leaving Naomi to raise her two sons. They soon married wives from Moab, Ruth and Orpah. *** Ten years later, Ruth’s two sons died. Ruth heard that the famine was over in Israel and that there was bread once again in Bethlehem. She began to journey back to Jerusalem. Her two daughter-in-laws followed her but she blessed them to return to their homes and remarry. Orpah tearfully returned to Moab, but Ruth clung to Naomi. She proclaimed that Naomi’s people would be her people and Naomi’s god would be her god. Naomi allowed her to go with her. *** They arrived in Bethlehem during the barley harvest making it around Pentecost. The whole town was happy to see Naomi and welcomed Ruth. *** This is a great picture of the faith walk. It is the walk into the unknown. Orpah went back to the familiar even though it must have been a hard life for a woman. Ruth took the road of uncertainty but she was never alone. She chose God as her god and walked by faith into a new land of new people and complete “unknowns”. We do not know what became of Orpah but history honors Ruth. *** In John, Jesus met the Samaritan woman by the famous well that Jacob had given his son, Joseph. This story reminds me of what John the Baptist had told his disciples. He told them that he could only talk of earthly things because he was of the earth, but Jesus would talk of heavenly things because he was from heaven. The woman that Jesus approached could only talk of earthly things because she was of the earth, but Jesus could only talk of heavenly things. She would ask him about why he wanted physical water from her and he would ask her if she wanted spiritual living water from him. She could not understand his answers because she was seeing things from an earthly perspective but he could only talk of spiritual things because that was his perspective. He finally told her that he was the Messiah. That was something he told no one. He also told her that she had been divorced by five men and this last one wouldn’t even marry her. She had lived a life of rejection and now he was offering her eternal life. She was so excited that she went back to the town to spread the news that she might have found the Messiah. *** Jesus’ disciples were worried that Jesus hadn’t eaten in a long time but Jesus’ response could be interpreted (by me) to mean, “Who can eat at a time like this?” He had just sowed seed and was about to harvest a great crop of souls. This spiritual joy was much more nourishing than natural food. *** Lord, lift up our eyes and let us see the greater perspective. May we be nourished with the food that feeds our soul. May we walk in the supernatural.