Sad

"My life is much too sad for you to share, for the Lord is against me," Ruth 1:13.

Who said that? The one who called herself Bitter Woman (Mara). Why? She and her family became economic refugees in a foreign land. Then, her husband died. Then, her sons died. Then, bereft, she told her surviving daughters-in-law she had no hope, nothing to share with them. Clearly, God's hand opposed her. Destitute, she told them to make new lives for themselves. She would go back to her own country, drained. How hard can life get? Hopeless, helpless, left behind. What to do? Here's Ruth's response: Your God will be my God. I will share your life. May God strike me dead if I don't. Hmm? What's this thing about God, even when he doesn't seem very nice?

We share lives with a brother or sister today, through thick or thin, hoping in God anyway. And, together, we marvel thankfully that even on a cross Jesus entrusted himself to God.