Trusting That God Will Provide: A Study on Ruth
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Trusting That God Will Provide: A Study on Ruth
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780310247852 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperChristian Resources |
| Publication date: | 07/01/2002 |
| Series: | Women of Faith / Bible Study Series |
| Pages: | 80 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.13(d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Trusting That God Will Provide
A Study on RuthBy Janet Kobobel Grant
Zondervan Publishing Company
Copyright © 2002 Janet Kobobel GrantAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9780310247852
Chapter One
Tough ChoicesWhen times are difficult we can trust the Lord.
The sky metamorphosed slowly from gray to pink. The three women, wearing heavy veils that announced their widowhood, trudged along without speaking.
Ruth sighed. She and her sister-in-law, Orpah, had started out the journey from Moab to Bethlehem trying to act cheerful and enthusiastic. They had sung songs until they couldn't think of any more. Then they sang all the old ones again until they were sick of them. Then they told all the jokes they could remember. Eventually they fell silent and just walked. Ruth felt as though they had plodded forward for a very long time. But they still had a long way to go, and this was only the second day of their trek.
Ruth's calf muscles ached. The pack on her back rubbed sores created the day before, and the weariness sitting on her shoulders lingered from a sleepless night. She had known many such wakeful nights since her husband had died.
Even now her mind turned to thoughts of Mahlon, with his large brown eyes, slow smile, and slender fingers. He'd had a tender spirit that she depended on. But his gentlenesshadn't saved him from the fever that quickly wasted his body and stole his life-the same fever that took his brother's life. She pushed the images of Mahlon's hot face and fiery eyes out of her mind. She didn't want to remember that part. She would remember him before the illness. Before widowhood.
"Widow," Ruth softly uttered the word, still trying to assimilate it as her new designation. It was a willowy word without substance that swayed with each breeze of adversity. Much like she felt without Mahlon.
She glanced over to Orpah. Pretty Orpah, of the dancing eyes and feet, was lost in her own thoughts. She didn't seem as pretty now-now that the music had left her life.
They felt sad and lost, both of them. But no more so than Ruth's widowed mother-in-law, Naomi, who trudged on slightly ahead of the young women. Maybe she was eager to be home in Bethlehem, out of Moab. Or maybe she was pushed forward by a sorrow that propelled her like a prod in the back. Naomi had always stood rod straight, back unbent, but now she walked with stooped shoulders, worn down by the burden of so many losses. Her spirit seemed almost broken.
The two young women were moving to a new town because of Naomi. That she might find consolation with her old neighbors. That she might sit around the evening fire with friends who remembered more joyful times-before the famine caused Naomi's family to move, before her husband had died, before she had lost her sons, before ten hard years had passed. Maybe the light in Naomi's eyes, her lively spirit, and her lovely smile would return. And maybe she would find her God again, the God whom she seemed to have lost. The God she had believed in wholeheartedly when Ruth first met her.
For Naomi, Ruth had packed her few belongings and set her mind to move to Bethlehem, to give up her gods, to become the foreigner-and to be seen as a heathen one at that.
For Naomi you will do this, Ruth told herself, shooing away a fly. The sun began gathering its heat and directing it onto the widows who had so far to walk. So she can find life and her God again, you will do this ...
Setting the Stage
WHICH WAY IS HOME?
Like Ruth, Naomi, and Orpah, the characters in The Wizard of Oz embark on a quest that requires courage, caring, smarts, and a longing for home. This week before the group meeting, think about the Oz story, or if you have time, rent a videotape of the movie or read the book.
Based on the tape, book, or your memory of the story, think about the adversities that each of the main characters faces. Write down the ways the cowardly lion overcomes his fears, the tin man discovers his heart, the scarecrow finds his brain, and Dorothy finds her way home.
Then answer the following questions:
Which character do you identify with the most?
What adversities do you face?
What keeps you from believing in yourself?
What tornadoes have separated you from "home"?
What do you need to feel "at home" with yourself spiritually, mentally, and emotionally?
What might be the "yellow brick road" in your life?
What clues does the movie offer to help you to overcome your fears, discover your heart, develop the confidence to use your brain, and find your way home?
Write down what needs to change in your life for you to be "at home" with yourself. Prayerfully set goals of how you can reach home. Commit your discoveries to God. Ask him to work in your life through Ruth's story.
Discussing Ruth's Story
MANY CHOICES
Ruth steps out of her culture and into the murky waters of an unknown future. The only visible stepping-stones have uninviting names: widow, poverty, foreigner. She has a difficult journey ahead of her, with many choices to make. But the biggest and foremost choice centers on whether to believe in God and his ability to provide for her.
Before you begin the discussion, read the Bible text, Ruth 1:1-18.
1. Ruth 1:1 establishes the time in which Ruth lived. What insights does Judges 2:10-19 offer you about this era? How might it feel to be a widow in this culture?
2. After reading Ruth 1:2-5 and the Behind the Scenes section, "Unholy Neighbors," on page 24, do you think Elimelech was trusting God to provide when he moved his family to Moab to escape the famine? Why or why not?
3. Ask three women to role-play the parts of Ruth, Naomi, and Orpah. Have the three of them hold a press conference, with the others in the group playing the part of the Moabite press. Ask the women questions about their leaving Moab and moving to Bethlehem emphasizing questions about how the women feel concerning this relocation. As they answer, have the press write down the emotions each woman expresses. When the press conference is over, add any other emotions the group can think of that Ruth, Naomi, and Orpah may have been feeling.
4. What choices did each of the women face after their husbands died? What was difficult about each choice?
5. What does Orpah and Ruth's response to Naomi in verses 8-10 tell you about these daughters-in-law? How could the emotions you listed in question three affect their response?
6. What does Naomi reveal about her relationship to God in verses 11-13? What does Ruth's response in verses 14-18 reveal about her view of God? How might these opinions about God affect the two younger women's choices?
Sharing Your Story
EENIE, MEENIE ...
When difficulties darken our doorstep, hard choices confront us. How can we-like Ruth, Orpah, and Naomi-decide what to do? How can we learn to lean on God and trust him to provide what we desperately need?
One place to start is understanding the word provision, which derives from a Latin word meaning "foreseeing, forethought, precaution, providing." God gives forethought to our needs, foresees the choices we make, and takes precaution to insure we'll be provided for. What blessed assurance that he is trustworthy!
1. What is the most difficult choice you've made in regard to God's provision for you?
2. Look at the list of emotions from question three in Discussing Ruth's Story. Circle the emotions you tend to feel when hardships invade your life. Add to the list any others you feel.
3. How can these emotions cloud our judgment about God's provision? How can they clarify what we should do?
4. What choices about God and his provision can we make as we pass through a hard time?
5. List at least five of God's characteristics to remember as we cast about to make a difficult choice and trust his provision. Look up the following verses to stimulate your thinking: Joshua 21:45; Psalm 117; Proverbs 18:10; Matthew 19:26; Hebrews 13:5-6.
6. The apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:19: "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." How can we truly believe and trust that God is faithful in his promise to provide our needs? What actions would express our trust?
Believing steadfastly in God while we face hard situations and choices is one of the greatest challenges to our spiritual lives. But setting our minds on God's character helps to steer us in the right direction.
Behind the Scenes
UNHOLY NEIGHBORS
Moab's relationship to Israel is difficult to define. In some ways Moab was closely affiliated with Israel, with the Moabite language and writing traditions similar to Hebrew. But in Israel's mind Moab had an unholy beginning. The man Moab was born through the incestuous union of Lot and his eldest daughter (Genesis 19:30-37).
Also, while the Israelites were traveling to the Promised Land from Egypt, the king of Moab, Balak, was frightened by them. Consequently, he hired the prophet Balaam to pronounce a curse on Israel (Numbers 22-24). Because of this act, God commanded that no Moabite would be allowed to enter the Lord's congregation (Deuteronomy 23:3-4). However, marriage with a Moabite woman wasn't forbidden in the law (Deuteronomy 7:1-4), so Ruth's and Orpah's marriages to Jewish men weren't shunned by the people of Bethlehem.
Continues...
Excerpted from Trusting That God Will Provide by Janet Kobobel Grant Copyright © 2002 by Janet Kobobel Grant. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | 9 | |
| Foreword | 11 | |
| About This Study | 13 | |
| Introduction | 17 | |
| Session 1 | Tough Choices: When times are difficult, we can trust the Lord | 19 |
| Session 2 | Challenges Galore: We can persevere as we wait for God's provision | 29 |
| Session 3 | A Prepared Path: Combining faith with action equals provision | 38 |
| Session 4 | Unexpected Gifts: The Lord provides for us in surprising ways | 47 |
| Session 5 | Carefully Covered: Sometimes God provides for our needs through others | 55 |
| Session 6 | Blessed Abundance: God often provides more than we expect from him | 64 |
| Leader's Guide | 73 |