[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during July 2020]
Dave Prior recently reminded us of an everyday story of country folk in which economic difficulties and the death of loved ones led to two widows finding fulfilment in the formation of a new family and living happily ever-after. It sounds like the type of apparently-mundane story that publishers of romantic fiction would use as a basis onto which they could add various details and sub-plots, hoping to have their readers engrossed to the final page.
The material of pulp fiction? Maybe, but surely not appropriate to a weighty tome like the Bible. Yet it is there – the book of Ruth recounts the story, including its romantic theme and yet omitting enough details to keep the reader intrigued. Who was this wealthy relative? What was his back-story? Where was he during the famine? Why chose a poor foreigner instead of someone from his own social network?
Who, what, where, why – the questions that lift a mundane historical report onto a new level. Is someone manipulating the pieces in this game of life? Maybe not in so many words but God is working His purposes out and the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 1 shows how these people fit into the Grand Plan of salvation.
Are you fed up with lock-down, distressed by distancing or resenting the restrictions? Are you missing those things that you used to call mundane and boring, do you long for what you remember of normality? God is still working His purposes out, and perhaps you are the small link that completes the chain that leads to salvation for someone. He is still using the normal and abnormal circumstances of life to achieve His objectives but He often leaves us to guess at the who, what, where, why.
All great stories have an underlying principle and this is no exception. The moral here is that being a member of a family or society entails both obligations and benefits. While the majority of the story shows the positive outcome for those who take their responsibilities seriously, it starts with the fate of one who tried to avoid his obligations. Mundane as they may seem, your actions and reactions today will have consequences that you cannot see. Be assured, the Author has a plan.
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
