WOE TO THE UNCOMMITTED CALLED OF GOD

Posted on June 16, 2025 by randscallawayffm

We have all lived long enough to see church leaders rise and fall because of a nasty pride, a temptation to think they are above all simply because of their current called position. This pride grows to overwhelm leaders’ hearts, opening the door to the same  sins that got a fallen angel kicked out of heaven.  This temptation presents itself when those they serve place them on pedestals of perfection.  The people “below” them love and honor them as a person of God they can trust.  But when they become God to them, troubles arise.  When the leaders use their position assigned to them by God to gain notoriety and power, they slowly lose their identity and relationship with the God. Then the pedestal begins to crumble and a fall is on the horizon. When acts “In Jesus Name” for His glory are replaced with doing all in their name, declaring self-glorification; it is a sign that God is forgotten and pushed aside.  Leaders make up new rules to manipulate God and others while promoting their own desires.

Leaders who begin to believe they do all the work of healing, helping and saving are setting themselves up for a big fall.  Fallen, uncommitted leaders take over the role of God in people’s lives—and many who are blind to truth allow them to do it. After all, look how successful he/she has been on their own who get others to do what they say while manipulating others to do what makes them look good.  God called them so they must be good and right.  Wrong.

How refreshing then is Hannah’s prayer that gives all glorify to God! Hannah’s knows God well. We see her love for God in her prayer to Him!  God has been and is now Hannah’s Deliverer, Provider, and Protector.  God is declared her Rock, holy and righteous.  She prays a warning to the arrogant and prideful for there is NO ONE like God.  And now she gives her precious, God given son, Samuel to Eli the priest to raise as a servant of God in the Temple.  Hannah promised God, who fulfills His promises to her, the gift of her one and only son.  As a mom, I’m weeping at the thought of imagining this “letting go” scene at the Temple. This is how much Hannah trusts God…and Eli. Eli has been given a huge responsibility. Did it humble Eli, the father of sons who use the priesthood position for their own gain?  I wonder his thoughts.

1 Samuel 2

Hannah’s Prayer

Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
    in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
    for I delight in your deliverance.

2 “There is no one holy like the Lord;
    there is no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.

3 “Do not keep talking so proudly
    or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
    and by him deeds are weighed.

4 “The bows of the warriors are broken,
    but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
    but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
    but she who has had many sons pines away.

6 “The Lord brings death and makes alive;
    he brings down to the grave and raises up.
7 The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
    he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
    and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
    on them he has set the world.
9 He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
    but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;
10     those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
    the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king
    and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest.

Eli’s Wicked Sons

12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”

17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.

18 But Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home. 21 And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

22 Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. 24 No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. 25 If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death.

26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.

Prophecy Against the House of Eli

27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? 28 I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor’s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites. 29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’

30 “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, 32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. 33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.

34 “‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.”’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Leaders rise and fall because they are human. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” preaches Paul, but God made a way for all to be redeemed and perfectly forgiven by His One and Only Son who He sent to save us!  (Romans 3:23; John 3:16-17)  However, falling from the grace that God so richly has given is not an excuse to keeping sinning! “Accept me for who I am because you and I profited from it and that’s just the way I am” or “God will overlook this because He loves me and so should you” are dangerous words that come from arrogant, dead lives who still cling to old dead thinking of self. 

Jesus is the Christ, our Lord, who died and rose again to give us Life—new Life that demands we leave behind our old dead life! Paul explains this “dead to sin, alive in Christ new way of thinking and living;

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” Romans 6:1-7

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” Romans 6:8  Paul is not saying that it is impossible for believers to sin; he’s saying it is stupid for believers to return to sin’s hold on us, making us zombies who walk dead lives in darkness. It’s not an impossibility, but a moral absurdity of the saved to return to what we have been set free from—a dead life!

Eli’s sons are evil, dead men walking.  His sons do not follow God’s commands but use their position as called men with position and power who are not committed to God—only to self. God sees and knows hearts. Nothing is hidden from God. God will rectify this fallen leadership situation to protect His people.  He always has and always will provide His best for His People.

Then, there’s Samuel—

Samuel means “heard of God,” a name given to him by Hannah, his devoted mother who loves God and is committed to God.  Hannah’s prayer is also a time of rejoicing and praising God who heard her in her darkest moment of barrenness!  As we read more closely, Hannah was also thinking of God’s blessing to the nation of Israel as well as to herself and her home. When our prayers are all about self, they aren’t very spiritual and do not honor the Lord.  Hannah gave all glory to God! Do we?

“I rejoice in your salvation” suggests more than Hannah’s being delivered from barrenness. Hannah sees the miracle of her pregnancy as the beginning of new victory for Israel, who time after time had been invaded, defeated, and abused by their enemies as we read through the book of Judges!

“The word “saved” is based on yeshua—Joshua—the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek name Jesus (both mean “the Lord is salvation”). King David, in fact, would be God’s yeshua to deliver Israel from her enemies, and Jesus, the Son of David, would be God’s yeshua to deliver all people from the bondage of sin and death.”—Warren Wiersbe, Wiersbe Study Bible (Can I get an amen?!)

Hannah’s prayer of rejoicing is a great example to follow in our response to God! What if we began with praise?  When we come to God in praise and thanksgiving; we find it helps to focus on the glory of the Lord and not on the greatness of our needs. When we see the greatness of God, we start to see life with the right perspective—the way God sees life!

God knows everything about us and others. He is able to weigh us and our actions accurately. The Lord knows our motives (Proverbs 16:2) and our hearts (Proverbs 24:11, 12).  God’s is perfect and His scales are accurate. Like Hannah, we may be misunderstood and maligned by people, but the Lord will always act justly (1 Samuel 16:7).  That includes Eli’s sons!

God is sovereign. God knows what is best for each one He has created in His own image. All that happens on our planet is under God’s watchful care. God has not and will not abandon us.  We may think at times that God has abandoned the earth to Satan and his demonic powers; but think again—This is still our Father’s world (Psalm 24:1, 2), and He has set His King, Jesus on heaven’s throne (Psalm 2:7–9).

“The world doesn’t understand the relationship between sacrifice and song, how God’s people can sing their way into sacrifice and sacrifice their way into singing. Hannah’s song near the beginning of 1 Samuel should be compared with David’s song found in chapter 22, as well as with Mary’s song in Luke 1:46–55. All three songs tell of God’s grace to undeserving people, God’s victory over the enemy, and the wonderful way God turns events upside down in order to accomplish His purposes. What Mary expressed in her song is especially close to what Hannah sang in her hymn of praise.”—Wiersbe Study Bible

God is God. We are not God.  So, what is our response to God today?  Prayerfully take all the time necessary to focus on the glory of the Lord and not on the greatness of our needs.

Lord,

You are the God of my salvation and my rock, too! Thank you for Hannah’s life example of devoted commitment to you that encourages us!  May my life reflect Your glory while telling Your story of Life eternal.  You are God and there is no one like You!

In Jesus Name, Amen

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DEDICATED AND FAITHFUL

Posted on June 14, 2025 by randscallawayffm

“I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered
That’s why I trust Him, that’s why I trust Him…”

This chorus of “Trust in God” by songwriters: Brandon Lake / Christopher Joel Brown / Mitch Wong / Steven Furtick plays in the background as we read about a woman who loved, believed, and trusted God so she prayed from her heart to His.  God heard Hannah’s heart, saw her real need—and He answered.  But the story does not end there.  God in His sovereignty will groom Samuel, who is just as dedicated and faithful as his mom, to lead Israel back to Him.

To understand more of what we are about learn from Samuel who lives for God, we turn to Eugene Peterson, Bible scholar/pastor/theologian who writes this introduction:

“Four lives dominate the two-volume narrative, 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel: Hannah, Samuel, Saul, and David. Chronologically, the stories are clustered around the year 1000 B.C., the millennial midpoint between the call of Abraham, the father of Israel, nearly a thousand years earlier (about 1800 B.C.) and the birth of Jesus, the Christ, a thousand years later.”

“These four lives become seminal for us at the moment we realize that our ego-bound experience is too small a context in which to understand the experience what it means to believe in God and follow his ways.  For these are large lives—large because they live in the largeness of God. Not one of them can be accounted for in terms of cultural conditions or psychological dynamics; God is the country in which they live.”

“Most of us need to be reminded that these stories are not exemplary in the sense that we stand back and admire them, like statues in a gallery, knowing all the while that we will never be able to live either that gloriously or tragically ourselves. Rather they are immersions into the actual business of living itself: this is what it means to be human. Reading and praying our way through these pages, we get it, gradually but most emphatically we recognize that what it means to be a woman, a man, mostly has to do with God. These four storis do not show us how we should live but how in fact we do live, authentically the reality of our daily experience as the stuff that God uses to work out his purposes of salvation in us and in the world.” –Peterson, The Message Bible

1 Samuel 1

The Birth of Samuel

There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?”

9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

Hannah Dedicates Samuel

21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”

23 “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

When we see ourselves in the story of God—we must deal with God. Seek Him. He is already there waiting for us.  This is the continuation of Peterson’s introduction which cuts to the heart of the matter as we respond to God.

“The stories do not do this by talking about God, for there is surprisingly little explicit God talk here—whole pages sometimes without the name of God appearing. But as the narrative develops, we realize that God is the commanding and accompanying presence that provides both plot and texture to every sentence.  This cluster of interlocking stories trains us in perceptions of ourselves, our sheer and irreducible humanity, that cannot be reduced to personal feelings or ideas or circumstances.  If we want a life other than mere biology, we must deal with God.  There is no alternate way.”

“One of many welcome consequences in learning to “read” our lives in the lives of Hannah, Samuel, Saul, and David is a sense of affirmation and freedom: we don’t have to fit into prefabricated moral or mental or religious boxes before we are admitted into the company of God—we are taken seriously just as we are and given a place in His story, for it is, after all HIS story, none of us is the leading character in the story of our life.”

“For the biblical way is not so much to present us with a moral code and tell us ‘Live up to this,’ nor is it to set out a system of doctrine and say, ‘Think like this and you will live well.’ The biblical way is to tell a story and invite us, ‘Live into this.’  This is what is looks like to be human; this is what is involved in entering and maturing as human beings.  We do violence to the biblical revelation when we ‘use’ it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide color and spice to our otherwise bland lives. That results in a a kind of ‘boutique spirituality’—God as decoration, God as enhancement.  The Samuel narrative will not allow that.  In the reading, as we submit our lives to what we read, we find that we are not being led to see God in our stories but to see our stories in God’s.  God is the larger context and plot in which our stories find themselves.”

“Such reading will necessarily be a prayerful reading—a God-listening, God answering reading.  The story after all, is framed by prayer.  Hannah’s prayer at the beginning (1 Samuel 1), and David’s near the end (2 Samuel 22-23).”—Peterson, The Message Bible

Lord,

May we go beyond the childhood story of Hannah who prayed for a son to finding ourselves in the larger story of You who wants us to love You back in an intimate, loving relationship so You can guide us to all that Your best for us.  I love you, Lord. I have sought you often and your heard and you answered in ways beyond my wildest imagination.  You saved me from myself. Thank you, thank you, thank you! To you be the glory, honor, and praise forever!

In Jesus Name, Amen

“Perfect submission, all is at rest
I know the author of tomorrow has ordered my steps
So this is my story and this is my song
I’m praising my risen King and Savior all the day long

I trust in God, my Savior
The one who will never fail
He will never fail
I trust in God, my Savior
The one who will never fail
He will never fail

He didn’t fail you then
He won’t fail you now

I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered
I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered
That’s why I trust Him, that’s why I trust Him…”

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THE TRANSACTION

Posted on June 13, 2025 by randscallawayffm

Imagine the state of mind and heart in Naomi and Ruth as they wait for Boaz to propose a transaction to community leaders. They knew anything could happen; but they hoped for the best that God would offer.  Ruth loved Boaz.  It was “love at first sight” for both.  So, could it be Boaz?  In the wait for decisions to be made that would affect their lives forever, what were they thinking and praying?  

  • Who will be the person to save them from their current precarious circumstances and care for them with compassion?
  • Who would be the One who would love deeply like Boaz loves Ruth?
  • Who would be the One to redeem them and give them a life of love, protection and provision?
  • Who will be the One who will transform their lives forever?

The first in line as guardian-redeemer must consider taking on the great responsibility for the lives and property of Naomi and Ruth.  The final decision is in the hands of the elders as witness to the transaction.  Boaz, being a man of noble character, knows what to do. He willingly and carefully presents a transaction that will change lives forever.

Ruth 4 

*The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty according to the Law given to Moses by God. Leviticus 25.

Boaz Marries Ruth

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. 3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”

11 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

Naomi Gains a Son

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The Genealogy of David

18 This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, 19 Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, 20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 21 Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, 22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

WHAT DO WE KNOW—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” Romans 8:28 But do “all things” include tumors and tests and tempers and terminations? The apostle John would answer yes. John would tell you that God can turn any tragedy into a triumph, if only you will wait and watch.  John is the one who didn’t leave, the one who stood nearby as Jesus went to hell and back for us.  Though heartbroken to see his Friend be beaten and tortured, John could not leave. John was at the foot of the cross with the women. Somehow John knew this was not the end. So he continued to wait and watch. 

We must ask ourselves, how good and diligent are we at waiting for God to do His good work of turning tragedy into triumph in our own lives as our Redeemer, Father, and Friend forever?

What we know:  Our Redeemer lives!

Jesus was sent to earth by God to secure a holy transaction to save us from all our sins!  This transaction was made complete by Jesus who became our Redeemer who would assumed our debt of sin and then pay our debt in full—with His life!  Ah, but it didn’t end there!  Three days later, just as Jesus said would happen; God’s resurrection power brought Jesus’ body back to life, as “proof of life” so all would know and truly believe Jesus as Savior while giving all glory to God!  Jesus’ resurrected life is the reason for our Hope of a forever resurrected life of eternity with our Redeemer. Our Redeemer lives!  And we will live forever with Him!  “

How we respond:  Living lives of hope with grateful hearts!

We wait and watch for our Lord to come back for His own. We also watch and wait for God to intervene in daily living.  We live in a troubled world where God does His best work of redeeming love, mercy and grace in and through us.  His Promise of peace comes and dwells within us as we believe, love, trust, and obey, with all our hearts, minds, and souls.  But let us go deeper still…

“Boaz is a picture of Jesus Christ, our Family Redeemer; and this scene is no exception to that. Like Boaz, Jesus wasn’t concerned about jeopardizing his own inheritance; instead, He made us a part of His inheritance (Eph. 1:11, 18). Like Boaz, Jesus made His plans privately, but He paid the price publicly. And like Boaz, Jesus did what He did because of His love for His bride.”—Warren Wiersbe, Wiersbe Study Bible

As we look more closely; we see the parallels of Boaz and Jesus.  We begin to understand more the great work God sent Jesus to do to redeem us!  The theme of this beautiful story of Ruth and Boaz is redemption. The words “redeem,” “buy,” and “purchase” are used most often in the transaction. No redemption comes without paying a price. From our point of view, “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Acts 2:21); but from God’s point of view, redemption is very costly—

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

In Old Testament times, not everybody could perform the duties of a family redeemer. To begin with, he had to be a near kinsman.  (Leviticus 25) Jesus was born through the line of David making Him related to us as Son of Man so He could redeem us. Ah, now we understand more why Jesus became flesh and blood so He could redeem us by His work on the cross! (Hebrews 2:14, 15)

The family redeemer also had to be able to pay the redemption price.  Ruth and Naomi were too poor to redeem themselves, but Boaz had all the resources necessary to set them free.  In the case of the redemption of sinners, nobody but Jesus Christ is rich enough to pay the price. The payment of money can never set sinners free; the shedding of the precious blood of Christ has accomplished redemption.

The family redeemer had to be willing to redeem. Boaz was willing and able to redeem Ruth.  We have redemption through Jesus’ sacrifice of His shed blood for us (Eph. 1:7), because He gave Himself willingly and obediently for us (Titus 2:14) purchasing eternal redemption for us (Hebrews 9:12).

The people wanted Ruth to be fruitful and famous and bring honor to their little town. It was the place where Rachel was buried (Genesis 35:19), but more importantly, it would be known as the place where Jesus Christ was born.

What wonderful changes came into Ruth’s life because she trusted Boaz and let him work on her behalf! Known now as the “wife of Boaz” she has been given a new life!  The past is gone.  The first child they bore was a son named, Obed, meaning “restorer of life.” Obed would bring blessing to Israel. Obed was the grandfather of King David, one of Israel’s greatest rulers.  This relationship didn’t “just happen;” God was in it all.

“Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.” Psalm 130:7

Jesus redeems and restores our lives as we believe, repent, love, trust and obey. Believing is knowing God is working consistently on our behalf as we grow in our intimate loving relationship with Him.

Lord,

Thank you for the story of Ruth and Boaz which is your story of redemption for us. Thank you for saving our souls, cleansing our hearts, renewing our minds, and restoring the joy of you in us and us in you.

In Jesus Name, for your glory, Amen!

“Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe” … Psalm 107:2

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PROMPTED TO MAKE THE FIRST MOVE

Posted on June 12, 2025 by randscallawayffm

“I know someone you should meet!  He has a great personality, I just know you would like each other.” We all have that relative or best friend who has the perfect person in mind for us to meet, right?  Our first response might be to roll our eyes at someone interfering in our lives in this way—especially a mom or grandma.  It’s awkward, at best. We feel uncomfortable with something this personal even with a best friend, thinking I can get my own dates, thank you.  But as we think about it from their perspective, these loved ones are only wanting the best for us!  Proceed with caution. (Smiling)

Such is the case with Naomi who loves her young, widowed daughter-in-law dearly.  Naomi is now on a mission.  Naomi sees a man who could be a good husband for Ruth. She selected Boaz, a relative and a good-hearted man, to be that someone who would care for Ruth, possibly even marry her, becoming her guardian-redeemer according to custom. Ruth diligently followed Naomi’s instructions and lay at the feet of Boaz at night as a servant would. Ruth’s loyalty met with Boaz’s approval.  Both Ruth and Boaz were persons of high moral integrity who selflessly honored the customs and traditions of their people.  This is a love story for the ages!

Ruth 3

Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!

9 “Who are you?” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”

10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”

14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.

16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”

18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

It occurs to me that Naomi seems to be less bitter in grief and has turned a corner in her life.  She wants the best for her daughter-in-law who has never left her side. Ruth was loyal because she knew the grief and uncertainties as she, too, suffered as a widow. Ruth and Naomi have been “grief partners” sharing the emptiness of the passing of husbands who they loved and on whom they depended. Could it be that both now depend solely on God in their grief?  When we come to the end of ourselves, turning to God who we know loves and cares deeply for us is the best move to make.  Faith means knowing our God will supply all we need in all ways.

Was it really Naomi who set the wheels in motion for Ruth and Boaz to have a relationship?  No, God settled this before they left Moab. God knows what we are currently going through and knows what lies ahead for us.  God is sovereign and His ways are always the best for us. Even in our trials of suffering, God uses our circumstances to transform us into all we were created to be.  Praying, asking God to change us in the circumstance as opposed to consistently begging God to change our circumstance speeds up our growing faith process and deepens our intimate relationship with God, the Father, Jesus who saved us, and His Holy Spirit who guides us to all Truth.

Naomi returned to her hometown physically but spiritually she came home to God who renewed her faith and restored her brokenness with hope for the future. God does that with his beloved who trust Him. I know for I am one of His Beloved who loves and trusts God, too. 

Pause to prayerfully considered—

Upon returning to faith, trust and hope in God, Naomi enters the work of God, guiding Ruth with good counsel regarding Boaz.  God’s plan is obvious to us reading the story after all was said and done for us; but wouldn’t be awesome and wise to realize right now that this same God is also at work in our daily lives, too? Stop and give God praise…I am!  God is aways at work in our lives. When we truly focus our hearts with minds ready to listen with understanding we will know Him more with deeper realization of how much God loves and cares for us.

God loved Naomi in her bitter grief and in her renewed hope.  God loved Ruth who adored Naomi and her God. Now God is her God, too. God gives hope and security to both who “came home” to Him.

There were other men who would gladly have married Ruth, but they could not have redeemed her. Only a relative could do that, and Boaz was that relative. Since Naomi knew that Boaz would be using the threshing floor that night and staying there to guard his grain, she instructed Ruth to prepare herself to meet him. Ruth made careful preparations before she presented herself to Boaz.

Consider this thought—

Ruth prepared herself to meet the Groom of her future. Naomi advised her to cleanse herself, use the oils of the culture meant for healing with a nice fragrance and then to change clothes. Warren Wiersbe explains what this really means for us;

“She was to put off the garments of a sorrowing widow and dress for a wedding (Isaiah 61:1–3). Ruth probably didn’t have a large wardrobe, but she would have one special garment for festive occasions. Naomi had the faith to believe that Ruth would soon be going to a wedding! Salvation is pictured as a change of clothes (Luke 15:22; see also Isaiah 61:10), and Christian living means taking off the “grave clothes” of the old life and putting on the “grace clothes” of the new life (Col. 3:1–17; John 11:44). We can’t come into God’s presence in our own righteousness, for “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). We can only come in the righteousness of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), “by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians. 1:6)—Wiersbe Study Bible

Jesus Christ—We call Him our Redeemer and Lord.  God calls us His Beloved.

Lord, God,

Thank you for your forgiveness of sins that cleanses and restores our brokenness and give us new life with renewed hope! I stand in awe of you today…again.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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KINDNESS, MERCY, AND GRACE

Posted on June 10, 2025 by randscallawayffm

“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:6-10

Ruth 2

Ruth Meets Boaz in the Grain Field

Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”

11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”

14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”

When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”

17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.

19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”

21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”

22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

NEED TO KNOW:  The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty (see Leviticus 25:25-55).  God’s Law provided help for widows and their care.  Only God could know all the situations and circumstances of life His People would face in generations to come. Only God has the best way to overcome.   

However, as God rescues, provides, and cares for us; we humans can slip into a dark entitlement way of thinking with an arrogant stance of pride.  We think we are particularly special as God’s child instead of being a “peculiar people,” chosen to tell others about Jesus as our Redeemer, living humbly and gratefully before Him. We begin to see other’s faults, especially highlighting the weaknesses in others that we ourselves have and hold. And we judge. Paul spoke of this flaw of being a “holy-than-you-are” person to the church; 

“So, when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” Romans 2:3-4

When we struggle with dark habits in our own lives of which we are ashamed; the temptation to judge others of the same things is there! It seems it is a way to avoid being judged ourselves!  We must remove this glitch as it grieves the Holy Spirit living in us.

Instead of seeking special treatment from God, the Jews had a greater responsibility to obey Him and glorify Him because of the blessings they had received from Him. In His goodness, God had given Israel great material and spiritual riches: a wonderful land, a righteous law, a temple and priesthood, His providential care, and many more blessings. God had patiently endured Israel’s many sins and rebellions and had even sent them His Son to be their Messiah!

It is by God’s kindness, love, compassion, mercy, and grace that leads us to His redemption of our sins.  Condemning us is not God’s way to call us to repentance—demonstrating His love and compassion for us is the Way.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17

What do these thoughts have to do with Ruth meeting Boaz?  Read again what Naomi said to Ruth, “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” Naomi was living a dead life of paralyzing grief and bitterness.  She even called herself Mara (bitter), blaming God for her misfortune to her family and friends who greeted her upon her return to her hometown with Ruth.  But, because of the kindness of Boaz, she feels Hope rising from her despair.

Pause to reflect and evaluate prayerfully before responding to what God is teaching us: 

  • Do we think God should do what we want or do we ask God what He wants to do in us?
  • Do we blame God for circumstances in our lives that are difficult and exhausting?
  • Is grief forming a hard-core shell of bitterness that is so great we are oblivious to other’s who love us?  Is our love for God shaded by blaming God for our predicament? Has trust escaped us?
  • Do we give God an overview of our accomplishments done for Him so that we might find favor from Him?
  • Do we judge others for the same sins we are doing in thought and in deed?
  • Who are we? Who is God to us? How healthy is our current relationship with God?
  • Faith, Hope, and Love but the greatest of these is Love. (1 Corinthians 13) Who do we love most and admire?

RECAP:  The existence of the gleaning law was proof of God’s concern for the poor among His people.  Ruth’s going out to gather grain was completely an act of faith because, being a stranger, she didn’t know who owned the various parcels of ground that made up the fields. Furthermore, as a woman and an outsider, she was especially vulnerable, and she had to be careful where she went.  By the providence and kindness of God, Ruth gleaned in the portion of the field that belonged to Boaz. Boaz’s name means “in Him is strength.” Scripture says Ruth “happened” to come to this portion of the field, but this was no accident—her steps were guided by the Lord. By God’s kindness to Ruth who succeeded in gathering grain for them to eat; Naomi’s bitterness begins to fade as she realizes that her God is indeed at work in their lives to help them.

God led Ruth to the field of Boaz and then led Boaz to visit his field while Ruth was there. When we commit our lives to the Lord, what happens to us happens by way of appointment and not by accident. Ruth was still a poor widow and foreigner; but God was about to create a new relationship that would completely alter her circumstances.  Did Ruth arrogantly assume God would act on her behalf? No, she humbly worked hard in the field, gleaning grain, while trusting that God would care for her and Naomi.

Sometimes what we feel and demand as our “rights” are not at all of God’s righteousness nor are they characteristics to acquire.

Ponder this until tomorrow’s daily manna from God through His Word;

Grace is favor given to someone who doesn’t deserve it and can’t earn it. As a woman, a poor widow and a foreigner in Naomi’s hometown; Ruth could have no claims on anyone. She was at the lowest rung of the social ladder. Boaz gave to Ruth what she could not.  We can see in Boaz a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in His relationship to His bride, the church. Like Ruth, the lost sinner is outside the covenant family of God, bankrupt, with no claim on God’s mercy. But God took the initiative and provided a way for us to enter His family through faith in Jesus Christ. (See Ephesians 2:10–22.)

God’s Kindness leads us to repentance and redemption!

Stay tuned…there’s more to come with more to learn!

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving us from all our sins and removing them to be remembered no more! Thank you for convicting us of judging others for the same sins we have done! Thank you for showing us the love story of Ruth and Boaz that demonstrates yet again the deep and profound love you have for us which lead to you, dear Jesus for being our “guardian-redeemer”!  We didn’t deserve it and cannot earn it. Your love is just who you are.  May we live humbly before you today.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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A MOTHER-IN-LAW WHO LOVED WELL

Posted on June 9, 2025 by randscallawayffm

I am a mother-in-law to three beautiful humans who God arranged to marry our three children. From dating days to marriage, Randy and I loved who our children loved. After many years of marriage; they still love each other.  We love them and think of their spouses as our own children.  Therefore, the story of Naomi depicts a beautiful demonstration of unconditional love and devotion for me and all other mothers and a mothers-in-law.  But the story doesn’t stop there!  This story will also demonstrate redemption in its purest form because of an even greater love.

Don’t miss what is important in the story of Ruth:

  • Ruth was intensely loyal to her mother-in-law, Naomi.  Both Ruth and Orpha loved Naomi because she loved them. Grief brought them closer to each other.
  • Naomi is known and well-loved because she loves well—both in Moab and back in her hometown. Her hometown welcomes her back with open arms! One who loves God knows love.
  • Because of Ruth’s loyalty, she traveled to a new place and married into a Hebrew family.
  • Obed was born to Ruth and was an ancestor of King David and Jesus Christ.

Now we can begin.  Naomi lost her husband.  Her two sons who married Ruth and Orpah also died. Women widowed in these times, lived in a precarious situation with no means of financial support other than family.  Famine drove Elimelek and Naomi and their two sons to Moab to this foreign land to survive. With the loss of husband, and then both sons, she is filled with grief. But somehow her relationship with Ruth and Orpha, her daughters-in-laws, driven by great love is unchanging. Naomi demonstrates a love that goes beyond her own grief.

Ruth 1

Naomi Loses Her Husband and Sons

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Naomi and Ruth Return to Bethlehem

6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 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.”

22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The story of Ruth took place sometime during the rule of the judges. Those were dark days for Israel, when “everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 17:6). But during those dark days and evil times many remained faithful to God.  Naomi and Ruth portrayed beautiful examples of loyalty, friendship, and commitment to each other and to God.  Naomi’s love for her God stood firm as a beacon of light to others.

“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”—Ruth to Naomi

Through shared circumstances, but different upbringings, a devoted relationship was formed that could not be broken or left behind. Naomi loved God and obviously walked in His ways in Moab—a land not of her people.  But Naomi was not perfect for she and her husband allowed their two sons to marry Moabites which was unlawful according to Law of Moses, (Deuteronomy 23). But Ruth, who grew up worshiping many gods; noticed and loved God because of seeing God’s love in Naomi.  Then she confessed her faith in the true and living God and her decision to worship Him alone. She was willing to forsake father and mother in order to cleave to Naomi and the God of her people. This meant permanent exclusion from Ruth’s family. How then could Ruth enter into the congregation of the Lord? By trusting God’s grace and throwing herself completely on His mercy.  

Laws of culture might exclude us from God’s family, but grace includes us if we put our faith in Christ.  God’s love, mercy, and grace changes everything!

Wow. Before we respond, pause for a moment and think of all the ways in our everyday, ordinary lives that we demonstrate the love of God in us that draw others to him.  Real love is contagious and noticed by others seeking it.  How intentional is our love? Do we love selflessly or does our love demand something in return?  Is our first thought, in any situation, God’s love in us?  Are our relationships built on the love of God that sees the best, not the worst, in others?  Is our habit—to love first, and ask questions later?  Is our love growing and maturing to the point that we love without thinking about the worthiness of the person receiving our love and care?

As God’s Holy Spirit guides us through this self-evaluation of our own love coupled with God’s truth; may we listen closely and learn much from the continuing story of Ruth and Naomi.

Lord,

Thank you for helping us find our story in Your story each time we open your Word to read of your love for us and meditate on truth.  Your love drives out fear, assures our hope, gives us peace in difficult circumstances, and fills us to over flowing love for others!  Your love saved us and set us free to love others like you love us—forever and unchanging! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

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GOD, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

Posted on June 7, 2025 by randscallawayffm

Proverbs 15:14: “The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of the fool feeds on foolishness.”

Proverbs 17:24: “A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.”

Proverbs 26:11: “As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”

1 Corinthians 3:19: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness” …

God, we have a problem due to a vow we made in anger with our fellow Israelites. But not to worry, even though we blame you, Lord, just a little—we will take matters into our own hands and “fix” it.  Judges 21:25: “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.”

Judges 21

Wives for the Benjamites

The men of Israel had taken an oath at Mizpah: “Not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite.”

2 The people went to Bethel, where they sat before God until evening, raising their voices and weeping bitterly. 3 “Lord, God of Israel,” they cried, “why has this happened to Israel? Why should one tribe be missing from Israel today?”

4 Early the next day the people built an altar and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.

5 Then the Israelites asked, “Who from all the tribes of Israel has failed to assemble before the Lord?” For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah was to be put to death.

6 Now the Israelites grieved for the tribe of Benjamin, their fellow Israelites. “Today one tribe is cut off from Israel,” they said. 7 “How can we provide wives for those who are left, since we have taken an oath by the Lord not to give them any of our daughters in marriage?” 8 Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. 9 For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.

10 So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. 11 “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.” 12 They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan.

13 Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon. 14 So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them.

15 The people grieved for Benjamin, because the Lord had made a gap in the tribes of Israel. 16 And the elders of the assembly said, “With the women of Benjamin destroyed, how shall we provide wives for the men who are left? 17 The Benjamite survivors must have heirs,” they said, “so that a tribe of Israel will not be wiped out. 18 We can’t give them our daughters as wives, since we Israelites have taken this oath: ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’ 19 But look, there is the annual festival of the Lord in Shiloh, which lies north of Bethel, east of the road that goes from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”

20 So they instructed the Benjamites, saying, “Go and hide in the vineyards 21 and watch. When the young women of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, rush from the vineyards and each of you seize one of them to be your wife. Then return to the land of Benjamin. 22 When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, ‘Do us the favor of helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war. You will not be guilty of breaking your oath because you did not give your daughters to them.’”

23 So that is what the Benjamites did. While the young women were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.

24 At that time the Israelites left that place and went home to their tribes and clans, each to his own inheritance.

25 In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God, we have a problem—and it is us. 

Why is our first thought to blame God for the troubles we create?  The last words of this passage, which are repeated often in the book of Judges, tell us the answer…”everyone did as they saw fit.” 

The eleven remaining tribes grieved heavily for putting the Benjamite tribe to the sword. They came together to ask the Lord, “Why?”  In their grief, they remembered the ritual of their religion–build an altar and offer burnt offerings. But was that activity done only to soothe their feelings? 

This is a question I’m asking because sometimes we do that. When troubles come and confusion sets in by the circumstances we ourselves created; we panic and worry.  As we suffer the consequences of our behaviors—we return to what we know—go to church. But in the returning, are we coming back to the rituals of God or God Himself who wants to grow our intimate relationship with Him? Rituals do not save us. Our reconciliation with God by repenting of our sins to Jesus saves us! God knows our hearts. He knows our minds. He knows the sincerity of those who are committed to renew and restore their relationship with Him.

We must give up the foolish thinking of mankind as we become putty in the hands of God’s Enemy.  Ask for the wisdom of God! (Who loves to give it!)  Throughout history, Israel will fall in and out of their love for God. They will pay heavily for turning to their own foolish wisdom.  Prophets will be sent from God with wisdom and warnings but they will be ignored.  A verse we often quote to understand the benefits of trust and obedience to God with ALL our hearts, minds, and souls, comes from the prophet Hanani to King Asa who flipflopped often in his faith while at war with his enemies.  “Just follow your heart”, we still hear today. Asa did which was foolishness to God.  Asa’s mind is divided between what his heart says versus what a heart who seeks God and His will demands.

So, King Asa’s fundamental problem was not Judah’s lack of defenses in their current war; but the king’s lack of faith. Unlike David, whose heart had been sincere before the Lord (see 1 Kin. 15:5), Asa’s heart was divided—one day trusting God and the next day trusting in the arm of flesh. A perfect heart isn’t a sinless heart but a heart wholly yielded to the Lord and fully trusting Him. King Asa revealed the wickedness of his heart by becoming angry, rejecting the prophet’s message, and putting him in prison.

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.” 2 Chronicles 16:9

Now you know the rest of the story.

Humbled, repentant hearts do not ask why.  Our main concern is salvation from our sins.

Trials, troubles, and suffering will happen.  “In this world you WILL have troubles…” Jesus assures us. We live in imperfect world because all were born into sin and inherited the nature to sin. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Every human on earth needs God’s saving grace which He provides oh so generously through His One and Only Son, Jesus—all because of His unconditional, relentless, compassionate love. (John 16:33, Genesis 3, Romans 3:23-24, John 3:16-17)

The foolish thinking of mankind who live without God’s wisdom, fall into never ending cycles of sin.  It’s like holding on to a merry-go-round that is spinning so fast and out of control that we feel we must stay on or we will die trying to get off.  But, that’s a lie from the enemy.  There is a Teacher on the playground of life who will rescue us!

Jesus can and will stop the wild ride we’re on when we call out to Him. Jesus will take us by the hand, cleanse our broken hearts, renew our troubled minds, and lead us to a new life that will last forever!  That’s the Truth because Jesus is Truth.

But we decide—choose wisely—for it’s a matter of life or death!

RECAP:  The destruction of the tribe of Benjamin began from one incident if brutality.  A Levite priest cruelly and unjustly handed over his concubine to be abused by wicked men living in Gibeah, a village of the Benjamites. The priest then cut her corpse into twelve parts and sent each tribe in Israel a part to dramatize the shamefulness of the act perpetrated by the men of Gibeah.  The nation of Israel had sunk to great depths, but God knew and God was at work, preparing a change and a new leader to help bring the nation back to himself.  God is always at work—even in our foolishness.  God is faithful-even when we are not. There is no one like our God.

Believe and be saved. Trust and obey for there’s really no other way to real wisdom.

Lord,

Thank you for leading our thinking back to you when our thinking leads us into dark places. Thank you for your faithfulness to us in our fool hardy behaviors. Thank you for not giving up on us—ever.  Thank you for sending Jesus, a part of you, to earth to fulfill what the Law with a demonstration of your love for us. Wow.  I will meditate on this all day long.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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FROM BAD TO WORSE—Part Two

Posted on June 6, 2025 by randscallawayffm

Nothing will unite a group of humans more quickly and effectively than a common cause with a common enemy!  No one, not even God’s church, is exempt.  We inquire of the Lord and then add to what He says to do to satisfy our need to “get even” and make our enemy suffer. 

Judges 20

The Israelites Punish the Benjamites

Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah. 2 The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of God’s people, four hundred thousand men armed with swords. 3 (The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, “Tell us how this awful thing happened.”

4 So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. 5 During the night the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. 6 I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel’s inheritance, because they committed this lewd and outrageous act in Israel. 7 Now, all you Israelites, speak up and tell me what you have decided to do.”

8 All the men rose up together as one, saying, “None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. 9 But now this is what we’ll do to Gibeah: We’ll go up against it in the order decided by casting lots. 10 We’ll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for this outrageous act done in Israel.” 11 So all the Israelites got together and united as one against the city.

12 The tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What about this awful crime that was committed among you? 13 Now turn those wicked men of Gibeah over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel.”

But the Benjamites would not listen to their fellow Israelites. 14 From their towns they came together at Gibeah to fight against the Israelites. 15 At once the Benjamites mobilized twenty-six thousand swordsmen from their towns, in addition to seven hundred able young men from those living in Gibeah. 16 Among all these soldiers there were seven hundred select troops who were left-handed, each of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17 Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand swordsmen, all of them fit for battle.

18 The Israelites went up to Bethel and inquired of God. They said, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Benjamites?”

The Lord replied, “Judah shall go first.”

19 The next morning the Israelites got up and pitched camp near Gibeah. 20 The Israelites went out to fight the Benjamites and took up battle positions against them at Gibeah. 21 The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and cut down twenty-two thousand Israelites on the battlefield that day. 22 But the Israelites encouraged one another and again took up their positions where they had stationed themselves the first day. 23 The Israelites went up and wept before the Lord until evening, and they inquired of the Lord. They said, “Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites?”

The Lord answered, “Go up against them.”

24 Then the Israelites drew near to Benjamin the second day. 25 This time, when the Benjamites came out from Gibeah to oppose them, they cut down another eighteen thousand Israelites, all of them armed with swords.

26 Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. 27 And the Israelites inquired of the Lord. (In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there, 28 with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, ministering before it.) They asked, “Shall we go up again to fight against the Benjamites, our fellow Israelites, or not?”

The Lord responded, “Go, for tomorrow I will give them into your hands.”

29 Then Israel set an ambush around Gibeah. 30 They went up against the Benjamites on the third day and took up positions against Gibeah as they had done before. 31 The Benjamites came out to meet them and were drawn away from the city. They began to inflict casualties on the Israelites as before, so that about thirty men fell in the open field and on the roads—the one leading to Bethel and the other to Gibeah. 32 While the Benjamites were saying, “We are defeating them as before,” the Israelites were saying, “Let’s retreat and draw them away from the city to the roads.”

33 All the men of Israel moved from their places and took up positions at Baal Tamar, and the Israelite ambush charged out of its place on the west of Gibeah. 34 Then ten thousand of Israel’s able young men made a frontal attack on Gibeah. The fighting was so heavy that the Benjamites did not realize how near disaster was. 35 The Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and on that day the Israelites struck down 25,100 Benjamites, all armed with swords. 36 Then the Benjamites saw that they were beaten.

Now the men of Israel had given way before Benjamin, because they relied on the ambush they had set near Gibeah. 37 Those who had been in ambush made a sudden dash into Gibeah, spread out and put the whole city to the sword. 38 The Israelites had arranged with the ambush that they should send up a great cloud of smoke from the city, 39 and then the Israelites would counterattack.

The Benjamites had begun to inflict casualties on the Israelites (about thirty), and they said, “We are defeating them as in the first battle.” 40 But when the column of smoke began to rise from the city, the Benjamites turned and saw the whole city going up in smoke. 41 Then the Israelites counterattacked, and the Benjamites were terrified, because they realized that disaster had come on them. 42 So they fled before the Israelites in the direction of the wilderness, but they could not escape the battle. And the Israelites who came out of the towns cut them down there. 43 They surrounded the Benjamites, chased them and easily overran them in the vicinity of Gibeah on the east. 44 Eighteen thousand Benjamites fell, all of them valiant fighters. 45 As they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, the Israelites cut down five thousand men along the roads. They kept pressing after the Benjamites as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more.

46 On that day twenty-five thousand Benjamite swordsmen fell, all of them valiant fighters. 47 But six hundred of them turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months. 48 The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit” (Judges 21:25). This statement by the writer of Judges says it all.  Corruption fueled disruption. Immorality birthed brutality. Revenge was the mantra of the day—even when it meant fighting and murdering each other.  Evil fed the corruption from within the twelve tribes of Israel.  God intervenes to sort it all out; but evil must go. This is the cycle of sin perpetuated by humans who do as they see fit.

The verdict was in. It was decided by the leader of the eleven (maybe before they gathered because word of mouth travels faster than a mule) to excommunicate, (“you’re dead to me”) and annihilate the sinful Benjamites, (wipe them off the face of the earth for their sins”).

The common goal was to rid Israel of evil.  Upon hearing the Levite’s indictment charge of the men of Gibeah, the leaders of the eleven tribes met in unity against the Benjamites who became the common enemy of all Israelites.  Common enemy, common goal.  Unification. 

We must pause to remember what Jesus, who fulfilled every part of the Law, taught God’s Chosen (us) centuries later of who God really is along with His intentions for the Law:  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”—Jesus, Matthew 6:43-45

Our response is to seek God first, Love God back and love each other. We are to also love our enemies, praying for them as we seek resolution with them.  When we find ourselves engaged in a conflict, it’s easy for us to forget who the real enemy is and what the point of the conflict is. The Bible tells us that our real struggle is not against flesh and blood.  There is a higher, cosmic conflict going on behind the scenes!

Church, we must realize our real, relentless, sly and cunning enemy is the one who disrupts our lives with his arsenal of evil behaviors, distractors and deception in an effort to dismantle our faith in God.  His demons hover over our thinking and distract us from God with fake images that look like Jesus with deceitful sayings that sound like Jesus—but are not.  But take heart, says Jesus! “I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33) May we unite under the banner of Jesus to battle our common enemy with Him! May our common goal be to point people to Jesus so they, too can be saved for eternity by Him who rids the world of all sin.   

What would it be like for the church to stop fighting among themselves over the non-essential issues of the day and put all our energy and strength, with God’s help, to battle our real foe—who has already been defeated by Christ—the Head of the Church?!  Perhaps, it would be quite like heaven!

Know our enemy.  Although Satan is a formidable foe, he is not a god.  There is only one God.  Satan is a created and fallen being.  He is not all-knowing, all present, nor all-powerful.  In fact, Satan is a defeated foe. Still, he exists in our world, with his demons in our fallen world to create chaos and destruction. We are told in Scripture not to be ignorant of Satan’s schemes so that he would not outwit us.  “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” —Paul, writing to the Church, Ephesians 6:12

Satan thought he had control over the wicked men of the Benjamite tribe.  God proved he did not.  With their revengeful verdict against the Benjamite tribe; the leaders of Isreal made a vow that will be problematic later and cause more trouble among them.  The verdict was that the men of Gibeah were guilty and should be handed over to the authorities to be slain according to God’s Law (Deuteronomy 13:12–18). The vow was that none of the tribes represented would give their daughters in marriage to the men of Benjamin (Judges 21:1–7).  The Mosaic Law states;

“If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in that troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known),then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. You must destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.”

“You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. That town is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt,and none of the condemned things are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger, will show you mercy, and will have compassion on you. He will increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your ancestors— because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.” Deuteronomy 13:12-18

Note that “against the Benjamiites” in verse 18 becomes “our fellow Israelites” in verse 23. Perhaps this was one reason why God permitted the Israelites to lose that first battle. It gave them an opportunity to reflect on the fact that they were fighting their own flesh and blood. 

When we humans fall for evil and succumb to doing evil, chaos ensues. Churches are split. Family ties are fractured and sometimes broken forever when “sides” are taken. But God is still among us, consistently working, to save the world from all sin and selfishness that separates us from God—and each other. God was, is, and always will be God. Trust Him.

Lord,

You are God. We are not.  Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us. You are all we need. Your peace overwhelm me even now in the middle of life’s storms. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

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FROM BAD TO WORSE

Posted on June 5, 2025 by randscallawayffm

“That’s okay, it’s could be worse.” This philosophy of life only leads us farther from God and deeper into sin that separates from God. We accept the culture around us as problematic but tolerable. Then suddenly we become a part of the culture as society affects and infects us more than we affect the culture. George Barna, a believer in Jesus and His church, is a professional statistician.  God gave Barna the gift of interpreting data discovered to give us a picture of the current state of the church. Barna and his company does this by surveying and listening to people who say they believe and attend church.  He studies behaviors of the church with precise predictions of where the church is headed unless changes in behaviors are radically made. 

I was part of the audience where Barna, this modern-day prophet, spoke emotionally and reverently about who we are as a church with where we are headed if we do not heed the warnings to come back to God and do what He says as Jesus taught us. Jesus is the Cornerstone of the Church—the bride of Christ who gave His life for us! 

History does repeat itself—due to the cycles of sin in imperfect humans unless removed.  Maybe we need to wake up and pay more attention and learn from the catastrophic sinful mistakes made from others who suffered the consequences that destroyed nations “under God” in belief but not in behavior. 

A traveling Levite priest seeks refuge in a city populated the tribe of Benjamin. He pushes those with him to pass by other towns to get to a place they should be safe. But, it is not.  Wicked men live there who threaten their lives in brutal ways. To save his own life, and the lives of family who gave him shelter; the Levite priest cruelly and unjustly hands over his concubine to be abused by the wicked in this village of the Benjamites. When he got home, the priest cut her corpse into twelve parts and sent each tribe in Israel a part to dramatize the shamefulness of the act perpetrated by the men of Gibeah.  This became another wake-up call to Israel.  The nation had sunk to great depths, but God was preparing a change and a new leader to help bring the nation back to himself for Israel had wandered far from Him.

These acts of lewd violence led to even greater acts of murder that almost destroys the entire tribe of Benjamin all because of the wicked behavior of those living in Gibeah—an Israelite city thought to be trusted by the Levite. This is part one of a three-part story. Hang in there, it goes from bad to worse…but we can learn much from God if we listen.

Judges 19

A Levite and His Concubine

In those days Israel had no king.

Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. 2 But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents’ home in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, 3 her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her parents’ home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. 4 His father-in-law, the woman’s father, prevailed on him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.

5 On the fourth day they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go.” 6 So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the woman’s father said, “Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself.” 7 And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. 8 On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the woman’s father said, “Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!” So the two of them ate together.

9 Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the woman’s father, said, “Now look, it’s almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on your way home.” 10 But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

11 When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, “Come, let’s stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night.”

12 His master replied, “No. We won’t go into any city whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah.” 13 He added, “Come, let’s try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places.” 14 So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. 15 There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them in for the night.

16 That evening an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the inhabitants of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. 17 When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”

18 He answered, “We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me in for the night. 19 We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants—me, the woman and the young man with us. We don’t need anything.”

20 “You are welcome at my house,” the old man said. “Let me supply whatever you need. Only don’t spend the night in the square.” 21 So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.

22 While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, “Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him.”

23 The owner of the house went outside and said to them, “No, my friends, don’t be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don’t do this outrageous thing. 24 Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as for this man, don’t do such an outrageous thing.”

25 But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. 26 At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

27 When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28 He said to her, “Get up; let’s go.” But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

29 When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. 30 Everyone who saw it was saying to one another, “Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine! We must do something! So speak up!”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“Where are you going? Where did you come from?”  These words could be haunting questions of our faith journey.  Where are we in our faith regarding the behaviors of the culture in which we live?  Who are we as we relate to others who are cultural dependent in their identity?  Do we work too hard to fit in with a “you be you and I’ll be me” philosophy?  I wonder if we might confuse the love of God in us as the catalyst to accept and tolerate all behaviors not of Him or His character going on around us?  Love God. Love Others is the command of Jesus.  We can do this and stand for Truth—Jesus.  Jesus takes a way all the confusion and speaks truth. “Follow Me”, Jesus says, who embodies the love of God.

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit”

Gibeah had become like Sodom, a city so wicked that God wiped it off the face of the earth (See Genesis 19). The men of the city were indulging in immoral practices that were contrary to nature and the laws of God. (Leviticus 18).  “Our hearts ought to revolt at the thought of a man so insensitive to the feelings of a human being made in the image of God, so indifferent to the sanctity of sex and the responsibility of marriage, and so unconcerned about the laws of God, that he would sacrifice his concubine to save his own skin. He was so calloused that he was able to lie down and go to sleep while they were abusing her in the street!”—Warren Wiersbe, Wiersbe Study Bible

Sometimes when we look around at our world, we wonder if maybe God has forgotten or given up on us. Maybe some of the Israelites wondered the same thing. But God is always there, always working to bring people back to himself. The coming stories in His Word to us will demonstrate God’s love, compassion, mercy, and grace on His people.  Although this story was cruel and inhumane, these and other sins still happen around the world we live in currently.  We must not close our eyes to sin but warn others of sin.  Jesus did.  He became sin, who was without sin, and willingly laid down his life for the sins of the world—all because of the profound, relentless love of God who does not give up on His created.  Believe Jesus, follow Jesus, point the Way to Jesus!  He is our only Hope!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

When we are confused by the behaviors of our culture that are acceptable but unacceptable according to God’s Word; ask God for wisdom and discernment.  God’s Holy Spirit lives in us as our Counselor to guide us to truth with how to think and behave. Our work is to keep God in focus as we read and study His Word, then listen to Him. 

Instead of striving to fit into our culture; become more like our countercultural Savior!  Allow God’s Holy Spirit to do His work in us, correcting us and redirecting us to His perfect and pleasing will for us—all for our good and His glory! With trust, obedience, diligence, and humility, we will find ourselves in the story of God. Paul tells how—

“Place Your Life Before God” So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, MSG

Lord,

Cleanse my heart, renew my mind, refresh my soul with your mercies, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within me.  May your glory be seen in me—a sinner set free by your love, mercy, and grace. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

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IN THOSE DAYS—NO KING

Posted on June 4, 2025 by randscallawayffm

The enemy of God and those who believe and follow God works diligently to distract, deceive, dismantle our faith with efforts to destroy our relationship with our God.  He is crafty and good at his work.  He has practiced his trade of manipulation of minds coupled with lying about God since the garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve fell for the enemy’s lies and turned their focus from God who created and loved them dearly to self-satisfaction without God. 

The newly created man and woman, made in the image of God, were banned from the garden of perfection because they did exactly what God told them not to do. The enemy of God knew even then how to manipulate their thought process. Here are excerpts of Genesis 3 for how it all went down;

“Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” 

God said no; but Adam and Eve decided yes. Sin was born and gave birth to more sin. Sin begins in the mind and is fleshed out in resulting behaviors that are not of God. 

Their intimate relationship with God was fractured and broken.  Adam and Eve decided that the snake in front of them was better than the God who created them.  This newly formed couple, made in the image of God, chose to now acquire the characteristics of the enemy instead of the loving ways of God.  They sinned against God then lied about it to God.  Adam’s first response to God; “She made me do it.” Eve’s first response; “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  As if the “devil made me do it” which is our excuse today.  Satan’s power is limited.  He presents sin to us but he cannot make us fall for it. We do that all by ourselves. With God’s power in us, which is unlimited, we can overcome the enemy just like Jesus!

“In those days,” the book of Judges teaches, “Israel had no king.” This truth is repeated often, not as an excuse for their behaviors of sin; but as a declaration of the condition of their hearts.  God’s people did as they pleased without God. “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  God’s people are trying to do life on their own in a hostile land of people groups who do not know or worship the One and Only God. They worship and even sacrifice their children and young virgins to many man produced gods of silver, bronze, and gold.  God’s people are falling for the sin of worshiping these gods while turning to the God in times of trouble.

Judges 18

The Danites Settle in Laish

In those days Israel had no king.

And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 2 So the Danites sent five of their leading men from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all the Danites. They told them, “Go, explore the land.”

So they entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. 3 When they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they turned in there and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”

4 He told them what Micah had done for him, and said, “He has hired me and I am his priest.”

5 Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.”

6 The priest answered them, “Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord’s approval.”

7 So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, at peace and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.

8 When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their fellow Danites asked them, “How did you find things?”

9 They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over. 10 When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”

11 Then six hundred men of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. 12 On their way they set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan to this day. 13 From there they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

14 Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their fellow Danites, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, some household gods and an image overlaid with silver? Now you know what to do.” 15 So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s place and greeted him. 16 The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance of the gate. 17 The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance of the gate.

18 When the five men went into Micah’s house and took the idol, the ephod and the household gods, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

19 They answered him, “Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?” 20 The priest was very pleased. He took the ephod, the household gods and the idol and went along with the people. 21 Putting their little children, their livestock and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left.

22 When they had gone some distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites. 23 As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”

24 He replied, “You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”

25 The Danites answered, “Don’t argue with us, or some of the men may get angry and attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” 26 So the Danites went their way, and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.

27 Then they took what Micah had made, and his priest, and went on to Laish, against a people at peace and secure. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. 28 There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob.

The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. 29 They named it Dan after their ancestor Dan, who was born to Israel—though the city used to be called Laish. 30 There the Danites set up for themselves the idol, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. 31 They continued to use the idol Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5

God is faithful even when His people are not.  God knows their sins and loves them still.  He gets angry at us when we turn from Him and His best for us.  He allows us to wallow in the consequences of our sins for a while until we turn back to God.  We are so blessed by our God in ways so undeserving! I am grateful for the unending mercies of the Lord and His loving forever faithfulness to me.  When I fall, God picks me up, brushes off the dirt, forgives and restores me all because of Jesus who redeemed me!  There is no one like our God!  Why worship anyone or anything else but God? 

But, we don’t worship idols, do we?  We don’t add our idols to our worship of God, do we? We do when we fall for the tireless tricks and distractions of shiny objects offered up daily from the enemy of God—

  • A new vehicle that is attractive and will raise our status among our friends might become the object of our affection when we will do anything to acquire it, even if it means going into debt for years to come…
  • The offer of a new job that we are sure will give us all we need to climb the ladder of success but will mean the sacrifice of our morals in acquiring it… 
  • A younger version of our mate who truly understands us and is okay with being a “side dish” in our married lives…
  • Doing what it takes to get a bigger, better home even if it means getting a second or third job to pay the mortgage…
  • Letting go of wholesome, good for us, godly relationships and turning to those who will help us get ahead in the world…
  • Attending and giving to God’s church to bolster our status, reputation, and for financial gain in the community…
  • Using gossip and manipulation to get what we want…
  • Living with someone before commitment to marry to see if this “will work” for us…

These are but a few of the “idols” of our culture that our enemy says is okay for us because we deserve it.  “Surely God did not mean what He says…He is just keeping you from enjoying life”—This from the “accuser and liar,” our enemy whose end goal is eternal death and destruction. (Revelation 12:10 and John 8:44)

Israel may have been with a “king” at that time; but we are not! We have King Jesus!  Take hold with a firm grip on the hand of our Savior who has been declared by God to be The King of kings and Lord of lords! Listen to the Holy Spirit God gave us with power to overcome all that the enemy throws at us!  It was God’s Plan to save us in this Way all along…all according to God’s timing to provide the ultimate sacrifice to provide all we need to repent and remove sin from our lives forever!  Life is found in Jesus—not just any life but eternal Life!

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

God did for us what we cannot do for ourselves—remove the sin that stands between us and God through Jesus.   “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 

We have no excuse for sin. But we have a Savior who removes sin.  Fall for Jesus!

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Guide all that I think, say, and do for your glory so others will know you, too.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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