Trusting God In The Dark (chapter 18)

AUTHOR NOTES

"... Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. In the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and discovered a woman lying at his feet ." (Ruth 3:7b,8 NIV)

 

How long do you think Ruth waited at the feet of Boaz before he woke up? Five minutes? Ten? Two hours? Longer? Think of how alone Ruth might have felt, waiting and wondering in the dark. How often have we widows felt the very same way? At least figuratively speaking, we are in the dark too. Sometimes we’re powerless to affect our circumstances. All we can do is wait for someone to wake up and help us.

Yet God sees us just as he saw Ruth patiently waiting under the stars with the smell of threshed barley cooling in the night air. God designs these waiting times for us, when all we can hear is the nothingness of his silence. Our hearts yearn and strain for him to show himself, but dark times are not for seeing; rather, they are for listening. Life might appear motionless and blank in those moments, but there is a current underneath, and the waiting makes us stronger. Waiting is the isometric exercise of the soul and our faith.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Have there been times when you've felt like you've been waiting in the dark like Ruth? What happens to faith when we can't see ahead?

PRAYER

Dear Lord,

     I’m not sure I want to accept your plan for my situation. So far, you've broken my heart and put me in a hard place. My heart is beating as hard as Ruth’s must have been when she was waiting in the dark at the feet of Boaz. I want to surrender to your will; can I trust you?

     Help me by faith to make my plans, like Ruth and Naomi did;  but--like them-- in faith I will trust you and pray that your plan prevails over my own. Startle me with your comfort.

Amen.

(excerpts from Postcards From The Widows' Path, pages 170, 173)