Contrasts

 October 26, 2020

Life has always been full of contradictions. I’ve listened to Christians on both sides of the political aisle give all the reasons why they are voting for their candidate and why any good Christian couldn’t possibly vote for the other guy. We call ourselves the United States while we are more divided than any time in our history except perhaps for the dark years of 1861-1865. We have it better than most people in the world, but act as if this is the worst place in the world to live. Let’s get a little perspective.

The Biblical book of Joshua tells the story of great victories in the conquest of Canaan, with only a few hints as to the Hebrew’s inability to completely subdue or eliminate the original inhabitants. The book of Judges fills in the details of that failure; the lawlessness, the depravity, and the cultural, spiritual, and moral morass into which the Israelites had fallen. Its final chapters are graphic in their description of the depths of the spiritual and ethical collapse of those days. It was a dangerous time to be alive.

Then come these words: “Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled...” So begins the book of Ruth, a tender, intimate story of love and loyalty, of people doing the right thing even in the midst of the cultural chaos of the period of the Judges. The final chapters of that book take place in and around Bethlehem, where the story of Ruth also unfolds. Same place, vastly different stories. The culture doesn’t have to determine the direction of our lives. Boaz chose to live honorably, Ruth likewise, and God used these two people to forge the future of the nation and the world.

When it seems that everything around us is falling apart, we can still be faithful. It may not seem like much, and we ourselves may not see the end result, but God is faithful and will, as he did with Boaz and Ruth, use our faithfulness to change the course of the world.