Paulson Post

  Sometimes we overstate our miseries. That is what Naomi did also. It is true that he had become a widow, and she lost her sons as well. She is too to old get married again and have a husband or children. She had two words to describe her misery. She says to the townspeople who had come to welcome her back to Bethlehem: “ I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” (Ruth 1:21 ). A victim of self-pity, she calls herself empty. However, she is not empty; she had Ruth with her. In addition to her company and care Ruth later fills Naomi’s life with joy, security and happiness. Naomi failed to see that life will flourish again with that young woman who has left her kindred to follow her. In her distress she over stated her misery. Another word that she used to describe her also shows how she overstated the pain of her life. When the women of her village called h...

I have developed a new habit. That is not to roll out of my bed as soon as I wake up, but to lie-in until I hear something from God for that day. God has been gracious. Most of the days when I wait in bed to hear his voice for the day, I do hear him as he puts a thought, a phrase or a prayer in my heart. On one morning last week as I was waiting he put this sentence in to my mind: 'I will never forsake you or leave you.' I looked up this verse in my Bible App; I was astonished. That sentence comes in slightly different forms in four places in the Bible! So, I decided to study all its occurrences. So, here is what I found. The first occurrence I found was in Deuteronomy 31:6. Moses encourages the people who are about to enter the promised land that their God 'will not leave you or forsake you.' In verses 1-5 he has narrated the story of God's leading of them and the victory he has given them in the past. Then comes this aphorism: 'He will not leave you or forsake...