try changing the title
Contents
Try to change (Ruth 1:6-8)
Let's summarize the above. There was a famine in the land of Canaan. The reason that the famine came in the Promised Land was because God's people did not live properly. Meanwhile, Naomi and her family left the land of Canaan and went down to Moab to avoid the famine.
We saw that their decision was the wrong one. And the family faced greater difficulties in Moab. What I experienced in Moab, where I had gone in anticipation of abundant supply, was not abundance, but emptiness and suffering. Naomi lost her husband and children and was left with widowed daughters-in-law in the land. It seems that more than 10 years have passed since they left Canaan.
What does this unfortunate family need now? it's a change Change is desperately needed. What is the reality of life that Naomi and her daughters-in-law are experiencing now? Suffering, despair, want... all of them are unfortunate. Just because I keep living as it is doesn't mean I have any special hope. They need change. However, the change does not happen automatically. I need a reason We also need change. Change is necessary to make life better than it is today. How can I make a difference in my life?
1. Change begins when we hear the Word.
After living for more than 10 years in pain, one day Naomi makes an important decision to leave the land and return to her hometown. They seek new changes (end 6).
There must be a reason why Naomi decided to make such a big change. There must be a very important reason. What? Today's text explains why Naomi <because she heard something>. What did Naomi hear? Verse 6 says, “I have heard that the Lord has taken care of his people and has given them food.” This news was an important driver of change in her life.
Why did God give grace to the land where it was difficult to live in the past due to famine? It has to do with the character of God.
1) If we do not live righteously before God, we experience various famines. They experience various hardships, such as religious famine and mental and physical famine. However, God not only gives us suffering in this way, but also gives us the grace to heal and restore again.
If we live a wrong life, He will punish us in pain, but if we reflect and repent, He will surely bind up the wounds. (Hos 6:1) “[1] Come, let us return to the LORD, for the LORD has torn us, and he will heal us; he has struck us, and he will bind us up. You hit it, but you beat it again. This is called the falcon of love. It is a rod for love. So even though we are being beaten, we can actually have hope and be thankful. Because I know that the hawk is the hawk of love.
It was the news of God that changed the life of Naomi, who was struggling day by day with a bitter heart. In the past, there were famines, but God again showed grace to the people and gave abundant food and abundant grace to the land of Canaan.
2) The news about God made Naomi's heart rekindle her lost love and faith in God. As I remembered the abundant grace I had received from God in the past, I wanted to enjoy it again. There was a time when Naomi's family lived in the promised land of Canaan, the land of blessing, enjoying the abundant grace of Heavenly Father to the fullest. But he left the land and came to Moab in search of worldly riches. They left their father's house thinking that it would be happier to leave like that, but what they experienced was not abundance, but pain and an empty life.
It is similar to the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15.
A father's second son, knowing that leaving his father's house is true happiness, boldly leaves his father's house, but only after leaving realizes how good his father's house is. Father's house had abundance. So, he decides to go back to his father's house.
So was Naomi. He knew that returning to the land of Canaan was the only way to change his life. This great change of thinking, life-changing began by hearing about God.
3) <what we hear> is really important.
Listening has a huge impact on me. The stories, words, and information I hear over and over will eventually take over my mind and shape my life. What you listen to is important.
It is especially important to listen carefully. So, I'm going to try Bible College once in the winter. It is to study intensively by selecting one Bible book for the whole day or the whole week. In such a case, as you continue to listen, you will discover the hope of life, comfort, healing, and the wisdom of God, and the grace of restoration and resurrection will occur.
The Lord also said. (John 5:25) “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” He said that those who hear the voice of God will live.
Yes. When you hear the word, you come alive. So the Bible is spoken by God before man speaks. Genesis 1 also says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth with His Word. And God continues to appear as a God speaking to men. When we hear that voice, our souls come to life.
But the Bible says that those who have ears to hear, let them hear. I did not say that everyone who has ears to hear. You said you should have ears to hear. That's weird. To have ears to hear means to have a heart to listen. It means that you have to have compassion. That's when you hear it. It means you have to be humble. That's how it sounds. Naomi was also desperate. I was desperate.
At that time, the news about God was heard from afar, but it was never a small voice. It was the word he had been waiting for so much that it sounded like thunder in his ears. It was such an influential word that it caused a storm in his heart. Because I desperately wanted to hear it. And those words made a difference in my life.
Are you hearing the voice of God? What efforts are you making to hear God's voice? Do you start your day by hearing God's voice? Do you decide your problems as you enter the voice of God? When we start to listen to God, our lives will go in the right direction.
When Naomi heard the word, she made a decision to make a change. I made up my mind to go back. However, there were other things he had to do to put his resolution into practice. Real change happens when you do it. What?
2. Rising and leaving.
Getting up and leaving are essential actions for our life to have a fresh start.
1) Those who want a fresh start must first get up from their seat. If you think the seat is wrong, if you think you can't sit there any longer, you have to kick it and get up. That is how change begins. What Naomi did was exactly what happened (6)
But everyone! It is not easy to get up on the spot. Why? because of familiarity. What kind of seat is that? It's a place I'm used to in my life. How many years have you lived there? lived more than 10 years. This is scary. When a person lives in a certain environment and in a certain culture for about 10 years, he gets used to it. When Naomi first went to the land of Moab, everything must have been awkward. Culture, beliefs, environment...everything would have been awkward and uncomfortable. But if you live for 10 years or so, it will be worth living. I know there is a problem, but I get used to it. And once we get used to it, we have a tendency to refuse to change. I just want to live in a familiar state. Even if there is a better place, I just want to live as it is.
A good example is the homeless.
A few weeks ago I was crossing the underpass near Seoul Station and there were lots of homeless seats. I made a space out of a paper box, made a bed, put a futon in it, and covered it with a paper box again to make a bed. Seeing that there are such places from the beginning to the end of the underground passage, it seems that quite a few people live there.
If we're like that, we're like that, but we have our own reasons. The government has provided good shelters for the homeless to eat and sleep, but they say they do not live for a few days. They say they just come back and sleep on the street. Because that's what you're used to. This is the danger of familiarity.
So are we We know this is the wrong place for us, but we can't change it because we've already gotten used to it. just accept it.
I hate the discomfort that comes from trying to change. So, I live with <just bearable>. Everyone! Remember, the biggest enemy of change is familiarity.
If you really want to change, the first thing you have to break up with is familiarity. Abraham had been accustomed to living in his hometown all his life. But God wanted to make a new history through that person. So what was the first thing you asked for? Familiarity and separation He told me to leave the mainland, my relatives, and my father's house and go to a place I've never been to and I don't know where. It is to break with familiarity (Genesis 1:1-2).
When Abraham began to break with that familiarity, he became a man of great faith. God also wants to make a great history, a new history with us. That's why he wants us to break with familiarity too.
What habit do you have to give up on?
What do you not want to change because you have been living like that for a long time? You know that something needs to change, but what is the part that you are used to and want to continue living like that?
It could be your environment. It could be your habit. Or it could be a relationship. It's not about breaking with all familiarity, it's about breaking with wrong familiarity. For those who are used to oversleeping all the time, even trying to get up a little early is a pain. But if you want a better life, you have to.
Faith is a constant break with familiarity. And in the end, as you get used to it, breaking up with this world you are used to is death. Only when we part with that familiarity and death can we enter a better heaven.
Let's remember that one day we will have to let go of all the familiarity we now enjoy and start a better life. You must practice now. You have to keep moving towards higher places.
2) You have to get up and leave.
When that happens, a new life begins with rain. So was Naomi. He rose from the place he was accustomed to living in Moab. And boldly left. And they moved to Canaan. At that time, the history of great change in his life had already begun.
< Conclusion >
Do you want change? Do you want to be free from pain and trouble?
1. Please listen to the Word. I hope you listen.
2. Get up on the spot and make the decision to leave.
Then a new life will begin.
< Prayer >
1. I want to seriously listen to God's Word. And I want to get up from the wrong place and make the decision to leave.