Anchor Devotional

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Hopelessness

“Return home, my daughters; I am too old …. Even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons, would you wait until they grew up? … It is more bitter for me than for you.” Ruth 1:12-13

Naomi recognizes the hopelessness of her situation. She left the “house of bread” for a land condemned because its people had refused to give God’s people bread. Now, all her breadwinners have died. Only the crumbs remain: these Moabite daughters-in-law. What can they do for her? What can she do for them? She is beyond child-bearing age. The line is broken. She has no hope.

The depth of Naomi’s despair is seen in her instruction to her daughters-in-law to return to their gods (v. 15). She believes that “the hand of the LORD has gone out against” her (v. 13). How could she not feel hopeless if she truly believes God is against her?

Do you ever feel like this? No matter what direction you turn, you’re met with hardship. The problems that befall you are out of your control, and you’re mired in hopeless feelings of depression. You can’t help but wonder if God is actually against you. Let me remind you that God is for you, and “if God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31)? He is on your side, no matter how grim things look.

SCRIPTURE FOCUS
Ruth 1:6-15

INSIGHT
Lift your broken heart to the Lord. If God is for us in Jesus, no trouble or suffering in this life can win out in the end.

THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Numbers 7
Psalm 64
John 5

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