Although man is very intelligent and has invented many things for the benefit of his fellow men, he has never invented anything to take the place of bread (Lev. 26:26).
Nothing in the world can satisfy the hunger of the famine that man’s will has caused.
But the famine at first only drives man’s heart farther away from God. This we see in Ruth Chapter 1—to the fields of Moab. The last verse of “Judges” [Judges 21:25] and the first verse of “Ruth” [Ruth 1:1], away from “house of bread,” the land where God dwelt, right back over the Jordan to the land of lust (Gen. 19:37).
When we first feel the misery and emptiness caused by self-will, our heart eagerly invents a substitute—but where
to? (James 1:15)
| Elimelech (My God is king), dies. | God’s authority is gone. | |
| Naomi was “LEFT.” | But God “VISITED.” |
God’s emptying in Naomi and God’s filling in Ruth, is in order for God to be glorified. All that is of man must be set aside.
