Connecting to God Changes Lives

Connecting Through Experiences Ruth – Page 411.

Where have we been?

We have looked at:Joshua and SamuelThey connected to God through mentors.JosiahHe connected to God through the written word.

In Your Life:

Connecting to God through Experience.As you think through your life, how has God led you in experiences? What opportunities, events, failures, joys, and obligations has God used to help you hear His call and come to Him? In retrospect can you see the hand of God within the path of your life?

Ruth:

As a woman of faith. As a Gentile. Likely written by Samuel. Written from Naomi’s point of view. Naomi as the female Job. Written between 1160 BC and 1100 BC

Ruth 1:1-10 Page 411In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

Ruth 1:1-103 Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

Ruth 1:6-8

6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

Ruth 1:8-10

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

In Ten Verses…

Each of these can be challenging experiences and the collection of them can put some people against God while others draw closer to Him.

In Four Chapters…

Ruth is a book about noticing God walking with us turning circumstances into God-incidences. He has done the same with you.

Thinking About Your Life

Can you think of three events that helped you look toward God. People connect to God through experiences.

Think About It…

What would the book of the Bible with your name be filled with? Our lives are a way for others to see God at work so it is important to share what God is doing in your life and the lessons that you are learning from Him.

Taking It Home:

This week take the time to share your stories and get to know how God is working in the lives of others by asking them. Ask people what God is doing in their life or what lessons they are learning from God right now.

Going Further

Make it a 7 day challenge. Combining it with hospitality. Combine it with prayer. Disciples of Jesus know that people connect to God through people who study God’s word and share what is going on in our lives. These are the strengths of small group Bible study.

Next Week:

We finish the OT part of this series by looking at God connecting with Deborah through Victory.