Daily Bread

Meeting Boaz at the Threshing Floor – Part 2

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Picking up where we left the story of Boaz and Ruth, today we fast forward to the end of the harvest. One night as they are sitting in their home Naomi comes to Ruth with some very interesting advice. Naomi knows that the men will be partying that night because their work is done. They have received their wages, maybe even with a little bonus because of the good harvest and they will hold a celebration down at the threshing floor. So, Naomi tells Ruth to clean up, put on her best dress and don’t forget the perfume. Like any good Jewish mother, she is determined to leave nothing to chance! Then she sends Ruth out just as it is getting dark to the threshing floor and tells her to wait till after the men to finish eating and drinking and are finally lying down to sleep.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Following her instructions exactly, Ruth, tiptoes in between the stacks of grain to the spot where she finds Boaz is sleeping. Now before you think she is about to do something sketchy; the Bible makes it clear that all she does is lie down at his feet. This was no indecent proposal which Ruth has in mind, instead, it was a custom, rooted in the culture of Ancient Israel> She has come to appeal to Boaz to redeem her. Now, he is eligible to do this, not just because he was a rich single guy, but because he was a family member to Naomi’s late-husband. From that culture’s point of view, Boaz’s right to redeem most importantly was about, buying the land and home of Naomi. Of course, we know from the story that Boaz cared a whole lot more about marrying Ruth than any fields! And just like Boaz, Jesus waits for us. Though He has loved us enough to have given His life to pay for our redemption, He will never stride down to our house and demand our allegiance. Instead, Christ waits to hear our proposal, though long ago He has determined what His answer will be. And when we come and lie at His feet, He gives us a promise that He will redeem and tells us it is our turn to rest until morning. Then just like Boaz, Jesus is on the move! He leaves us with His promise of redemption, and we can trust that He will not stop until finally and forever we are His!

Living Through the Covid Blues

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Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8 NKJV

With the death of a close friend, and both of us battling Covid (Thankfully not at the same time) the last seven days have begun to blur together. With hours of time and not a lot of energy, I have gone back to the project of digitizing our old family photos. First, comes the sorting process and deciding which of these can simply be retired. Then, I photograph each photo with our canon, upload and enhance those thousands of photos (Why did we take so many!?). By now I am up to the late 90’s and early 2000’s and the baby photos of our grandchildren are sweet. But as I see the thousands of faces, I also know the sad, sometimes tragic stories that replaced the smiles with tears. Some I simply delete, as the memories are too painful, others I preserve, because for better or worse these are the people who are part of our history. In a bout of depression, the other night, my mind turned back to the verse that has helped me so many times before. Our old friend, the Apostle Paul, sitting in his prison cell, writes to encourage his friends that when they face hardships, they need to remember the good things that God has done. No matter how low things appear, there are still things and people around us who have noble hearts. No matter how unfairly and selfishly people treat each other, there still remain things of true purity, loveliness and grace. As long as God sits on Heaven’s throne (Which is a long-long time!) – alongside the evil in this world and ruling over it are God’s goodness and glory. He is still good. He sees the whole picture and still loves and cares for each of us. It is up to me and you to decide what we allow our hearts and minds to dwell on and we can do this because our true life is in Christ and is hidden with Him in God.

One of the sisters from our prayer group sent us this song from Charity Gayle, saying it would give us something to praise God about. By the end, the ice in my soul began to melt and I was really blessed. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. There is no better way for us to set our minds on the good things God has done, that to take time out and give Him praise!

The Sabbath is Unique

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments

For those of you who are regular readers, you know that I am a fan of “The Chosen” series. In the first season I especially loved the episode on the Sabbath and was deeply moved by the final scene of all the different families in different settings taking time to honor God. This week I will be sharing a series on the Sabbath which I wrote a few years ago but I believe with all my heart is needed now more than ever. As a young man, I belonged to a church that taught us some pretty legalistic forms of Sabbath keeping which sadly obscured the deeper truths and blessings for which God created the seventh day. The reality is that Christ is our Sabbath, and our only rest is in Him. But that being said, there does remain a uniqueness to keeping Sabbath which I hope we never lose. I will be delighted to hear not only your reactions, but how you keep Sabbath and the blessings you have found. So here is day one –

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:11

This Sunday as I was resting, I began to thank God for having planned for us such a special day. The world is push-push- push 24/7 and 365. No day, no hour, no minute is any different from any other. One day when I was a teen-ager I was driving home from work. I was tired and, in a hurry, so when I found myself behind a long line of slow-moving traffic, I was particularly irritated. I couldn’t remember a construction zone in that area and the speed limit was 60-70 miles per hour so immediately I began to pass as many cars at a time as I could. I thought I was making pretty good time till I pulled out and noticed that the first car in line was a hearse! Oh, how ashamed I felt! The world is a lot like I was that afternoon. There is no time to slow down until we are being driven away to be buried!

But rest is coded into the very DNA of God’s creation. The Sabbath was unique because on that day when He was no longer busy with creation, God set aside an entire day just to spend time with Adam and Eve. God wasn’t worn out or tired from His work but instead He rested by choice. Today is the first in an eight-part series on why God has made the Sabbath unique. I am sometimes afraid that in our modern world we have forgotten how to rest. In our worry and hurry, our pushing and shoving it is so easy to forget the value of Sabbath rest. God’s day is not meant simply as a ritual observance or a duty to be carried out with gritted teeth. God’s Sabbath is His gift for us. Together let’s slow down and allow the wheels of life to cease turning just long enough for us to unwrap His gift and look into God’s humble and unhurried heart.

Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, 
not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27