RETURN TO GOD

 ANCHOR OF LIFE DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE For SATURDAY, 25TH MARCH, 2023.

Author: PASTOR DR. SAMUEL AYORINDE – General Overseer

Anchor of Life & Redemption Ministry Int’l

Topic: RETURN TO GOD

MEMORIZE: “I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.” Genesis 31:13.

SCRIPTURE READING: Ruth 1:1- 6

“1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.  2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.  3 And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. 5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. 6 ¶ Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.”

EXPOSITION: 

Elimelech went out of Bethlehem (the house of Bread) with his wife and his two sons to llok for survival in Moab, the strange land, just because of famine. Little did he know that it shall be for his doom. He went out in full without consulting God. He died and his two sons without raising offspring. Leaving Naomi and the two daughters-in-law behind. At this time, God had visited Bethlehem with food and became the envy of other nations.

Naomi then returned, in duty to her people. She had often enquired of their state, what harvests they had and how the markets went, and still the tidings were discouraging; but like the prophet's servant, who, having looked seven times and seen no sign of rain, at length discerned a cloud no bigger than a man's hand, which soon overspread the heavens, so Naomi at last has good news brought her of plenty in Bethlehem, and then she can think of no other than returning thither again. Hew new alliances in the country of Moab could not make her forget her relation to the land of Israel. Note, Though there be a reason for our being in bad places, yet, when the reason ceases, we must by no means continue in them. Forced absence from God's ordinances, and forced presence with wicked people, are great afflictions; but when the force ceases, and such a situation is continued of choice, then it becomes a great sin. It should seem she began to think of returning immediately upon the death of her two sons,

Because she looked upon that affliction to be a judgment upon her family for lingering in the country of Moab; and hearing this to be the voice of the rod, and of him that appointed it, she obeys and returns.  Had she returned upon the death of her husband, perhaps she might have saved the life of her sons; but, when God judgeth he will overcome, and, if one affliction prevail not to awaken us to a sight and sense of sin and duty, another shall do. When death comes into a family it ought to be improved for the reforming of what is amiss in the family: when relations are taken away from us we are put upon enquiry whether, in some instance or other, we are not out of the way of our duty, that we may return to it. God calls our sins to remembrance, when he slays a son, “18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only. 19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.” 1Ki 17:18-20. And, if he thus hedge up our way with thorns, it is that he may oblige us to say, We will go and return to our first husband, as Naomi here to her country, Hosea 2:7 reads “And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.”

Before it is too late, come back to the Lord. Rebelling against God brings His judgment upon the rebel and his household. The affliction you are suffering today may be a signal that you are in the wrong place. God says in Hosea 5:14-15, “For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.”

PRAYER POINT: Lord, restore us back unto you now that we may see your goodness in the land of the living in Jesus name.

DAILY BIBLE READING IN A YEAR –  2 Samuel 1 - 3.

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ANCHOR OF LIFE is the daily devotional guide of ANCHOR OF LIFE & REDEMPTION MINISTRY (ALRM), written by PASTOR DR. SAMUEL AYORINDE. It is an extraction of God’s word designed to draw the sincere seekers closer to God on a daily basis through an insightful exposition and analysis of God’s Word.

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