A viral disaster has ravished our land, disrupting our lives and plans. Many of us have suffered severe losses. 🙁 We have lost our livelihoods, loved ones, mental health, our freedom to come and go as we please and our ability to indulge our travel lusts and give hugs and smiles to strangers (don’t judge me…hugs and smiles are critical, in my book 🙂 ).
In reflecting on this season, Our Father turned my thoughts to a biblical family in the book of Ruth who experienced a similar situation. A disaster, a severe famine, ravished the land of Israel, disrupting the lives and plans of Naomi and her family. Maybe she had planned to take a trip or celebrate with her friends and neighbors. Maybe her sons had planned to marry Israelite women, when they grew older. Who knows?! The one thing that’s certain is that instead of living their lives as planned, the disaster results in them packing up their lives and moving to a foreign country, Moab.
Whilst there, further disaster, death, strikes and Naomi loses her husband and then her sons. I can just imagine how she may have ranted and raved to God and against the world: “This was not supposed to happen! This is not how we planned it. I have lost everything and have nothing left! God, why?! Why me?!” I don’t know about you but that litany sounds incredibly familiar to ones God has heard from me.
Finally the famine ends and Naomi decides to return home. Upon her return, her claim is that she is bitter because she went away full and returns empty.
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me home empty. Why call me Naomi when the Lord has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy upon me?” – Ruth 1:20-21
However, her claim is not true. She did not return home empty-handed. She may have lost her sons and husband but she returned with a faithful daughter-in-law, Ruth, who, later in the story (Ruth 4:14-15), is said to be better than seven (7) sons. It is true, God doesn’t take something from us without having something better in mind!
It is all about focus.
Naomi initially missed the blessing because her focus was on all she had lost.
As we progress from season to season, we will lose some things that we hold dear. However, we will also gain some blessings that we could never have foreseen or imagined. This season of loss will end but will it dictate our attitude going into the next season? If our eyes are fixed on what we lost, we will be bitter like Naomi, focusing on the tragedy and suffering caused by our loss and totally missing the blessing to be found in what we have gained. I may have lost the ability to travel and give hugs and smiles to strangers but I gained many things for which I am incredibly grateful.
- I got the time to spend more time with God, improving our relationship.
- I got the time to work on some things I have wanted to do for ages but never found the time.
- I got the time to better connect with someone who has become very dear to me.
- I got the time to truly see me and give God the time and focus required for Him to refine my behaviours, patterns and attitudes.
Where is your focus? Don’t miss God’s blessing because your focus is on all the things you had lost.
A Quick Side Note: Upon completing the first draft of this post, I accidentally hit the undo keys. This action, due to an issue with the app, resulted in me losing my first draft. Finding the irony in the situation, I proceeded to start again and wrote a post that surpassed what I had initially planned. How like God to give me a physical demonstration! 🙂
Thank you for stopping by and reading. Have you ever had an experience where your focus on what you had lost caused you to miss the moves God had made in your life? I would love to hear about your experience in the comments section, below. 🙂
Chañel
