Mar/Apr2011 I remember reading Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree as a child at school, and thinking how much I wanted to be like that tree! The book is a simple, children’s story of a tree that selflessly gives of itself to its friend, a small boy. That was probably the first introduction I had to the idea of ‘living to give’. And over the years (yes, young readers, I am positively ancient now), I have come across some amazing lives (human, not tree!) that have been poured out for other people. But I’ve learnt that you don’t have to be ancient, like me, or wealthy or uber-intelligent, to do the same. Each of us can give, whether it’s time, energy, a cup of coffee, a smile, a kind word … So, if you think you haven’t got much to give, think again – because you have! Hopefully, our section on ‘Giving is Living’ will help you. When we think about giving, who better to model ourselves on than Jesus? He truly gave His life for us in every way. In the lead up to Easter, our look at what Jesus did for us on the cross should excite, amaze and bless your (possibly smelly) socks off. So, enjoy all the delights of this issue. May they bring you closer to God and help you to worship Him. Happy Easter!
l a i r o t i ed
BIBLE LOCATOR
old Testament Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel
Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi
new Testament Matthew Mark Luke John Acts Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians
Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon
Hebrews James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation
OTHER CWR DAILY BIBLE-READING NOTES: For young people Pens for 3- to 6-year-olds Topz for 7- to 11-year-olds Mettle for 14- to 18-year-olds
For adults Every Day with Jesus Inspiring Women Every Day Lucas on Life Every Day Cover to Cover Every Day
Young People’s Every Day with Jesus (YP’s) is published by CWR, Waverley Abbey House, Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 8EP, UK © CWR, 2011. All rights reserved. This ‘Esther’s popping, Ruth’s not stopping, giving is living so where’ve you been shopping?,’ issue would never have happened if it wasn’t for … Text: Paul Thompson @ Digital Dimensions • Senior Editor: Lynette Brooks • Concept development, editing, design and production by CWR • Photographs: Getty - Caroline Woodham (cover), • Printed in England by Linney Print • The text in YP’s is republished every four years, working to a rolling four-year programme for 11- to 15-year-olds.
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To beg in head b this issue, W ack to the ba e days o d f admire the Judges t ole o a Bible Ruth. ( We are heroine – the Ru going t t and no h, the whole o tell t R Esther hing but the uth , who w Ruth.) later, e’ll me w e living as an Israel t in a fo it e re Ruth w as a kin ign land. who ca me to l d foreigner ive in Is rael.
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tuesday
1st March
Judges
1 Samuel
RUTH 1:1–5 ‘… Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.’ Ruth 1:5 Naomi the pleasant wife from Bethlehem became a bitter and twisted woman. Life seemed so unfair! It all began when she, her husband and her two sons left Bethlehem in search of food. Why had God allowed the famine? None of them wanted to live among the idol-worshipping Moabites, but what choice did they have? Then Naomi was knocked for six by the death of her husband. Her sons’ marriages to local girls raised further questions … why had they married foreigners who
didn’t worship God? Worse was to come … the death of her two sons. It was emotional semtex that blew her apart. Poor Naomi was alone in a foreign land with no one to care for her. She suspected her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, would remarry and ditch her. Her smile and pleasant manner were buried under an avalanche of anger, bitterness and hurt. She was certain God had it in for her … didn’t He care what she was going through?
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Look ahead to verses 20 and 21. Naomi blamed God for the tragic events that exploded into her life. Is God to blame for the suffering that people face? Discuss this with your friends and leaders at church. Had God ‘turned His back’ on Naomi? Never! (As we shall discover later.) Whenever you go through a tough time, talk with God. Don’t blame Him – hear what He has to say to you.
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2nd March
1983
Judges
er Disc-ovnes new tu
wednesday 1 Samuel
RUTH 1:6–18 ‘Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.’ Ruth 1:16
How ruthless was Ruth? She had married a Jew but then became a widow. Who would look after her? To make matters worse, she had to cope with her embittered mother-in-law, Naomi. Surely it would be best to look after number one, remarry a hunky Moabite and send Naomi back to Israel? Good news at last – there’s food in Bethlehem. But will Ruth and Orpah want to go and live in Israel? The tragic events had brought the three widows close together, and Ruth and Orpah agreed to go with Naomi even though it meant leaving their people and the gods they worshipped. Before they crossed the border, Naomi gave them time to reconsider their decision.
Orpah was torn apart. She loved Naomi, but she loved her old way of life more. She wanted to help Naomi, but she also wanted to remarry a Moabite. She felt more comfortable worshipping lots of gods rather than getting seriously involved in worshipping the one God of the Israelites. Orpah chose the old rather than the new. Ruth held on to Naomi. She was serious about worshipping God and trusting her future to Him. Her old Moabite lifestyle and gods were no longer important. Nothing was going to stop her remaining loyal to God and Naomi. Marriage? A family? She would put God first and leave those decisions up to Him.
I will put God first
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hom se for w l a n d th o d na o io G t o o t em u al are yo ? We often face h life. How loy e g r u a o c you to e g o th r He asks f loyalties as w aomi. The o s dN t e v ic confl d . R u th Ruth lo pah and heir love for Go en you r O h t o B t Wh o d o ut . ce was in differen st, Orpah left G with God. Don’t r fi lk ta ur p ut G o d cisions, t out yo ficult de e Ruth and sor face dif k li ss – b e be ruthle . s ie it prior
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THURSDAY judges
3rd March 1 samuel
RUTH 1:19–2:3 ‘So she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters.’ Ruth 2:3
Talk about scraping a living!
I must stick at this
Israelite law stated that the poor could enter fields at harvest time to pick up grain, grapes and olives that fell to the floor. The Bethlehem down-and-outs were scrambling over the soil for the barley harvest leftovers. Ruth and Naomi entered Bethlehem as beggars. Neither had a husband or sons to support them. Poor Ruth – had she made the right decision? Would she live the rest of her life in the gutter? Did the God she now worshipped care about her? Life in Moab was better than this! Ruth did not complain. She took the initiative by suggesting she joined the Bethlehem down-and-outs scouring the barley fields for dropped grain. Beggars can‘t be choosers … or can they? Ruth chose to do all she could to help Naomi. It was sweaty, back-breaking work, but she stuck at it.
Our attit ud c a n m a k e to w a r d s t h e pr e s u ch a differen oblems we face handle t c e to t h hem . Ru e way w th poverty e , or give didn’t blame G od for h up and h Instead er ead bac s h e re m kt ained po a n d sh a sitive, w o Moab. re d h e r orked h h a rd - e a Naomi. a rd rne Althoug h she co d grain with w a s wo r uldn’t s king in h e e h ow er life, s wo r k th God h e tr u s t ings out ed He w for her ould good .
n situatio a to u g h g lp in e c h fa to Are you A s k G o d th e oment? u at the m up and give yo re a u q s u . yo Him trust in faith to
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4th March
friday
judges
1 samuel
RUTH 2:4–18 ‘… pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up …’ Ruth 2:16
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Moabites and Jews had been feuding for many generations. How would the Jews treat Ruth? Rich Boaz heard about Ruth’s loyalty to his relative Naomi on the Bethlehem gossip line. Instead of sending the foreign girl to the bottom of the pecking order when he saw her in his fields, he put her at the front. Boaz cheered Ruth by praying that God would shelter her and provide for all her needs. 1 His workers deliberately dropped grain for her without her knowing. 2 The men were forbidden to make any suggestive or lewd comments to her. 3 She could drink from the workers’ water supply. 4 He invited her to eat with the Jewish workers, a sign of acceptance. 5 She was treated to a huge packed lunch. Kindness can leap over the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding. Ruth’s unselfish loyalty to Naomi signalled how much she loved God. It earned her acceptance in the local community and a place in the heart of Boaz.
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saturday judges
5th March 1 samuel
RUTH 2:19–23 ‘That man is our close relative; he is one of our kinsman-redeemers.’ Ruth 2:20
Naomi was so deeply hurt by her plight that she asked to be called Mara, which meant ‘bitter’. So why is a sad, bitter woman praising God?
She is wond erful
Naomi praised the Lord for the grain, then revved up the praise a gear when she learnt that it was Boaz who had been kind to Ruth. Boaz was a close relative of the family. Under Jewish law, a widow was cared for by her sons, and if she did not have sons then one of her husband’s brothers had to marry her. In Naomi and Ruth’s situation where all these relatives were dead, it was the next closest relative who had an obligation to support them. If the widow was forced to sell her husband‘s possessions to make ends meet, this relative was supposed to buy them back (redeem them). But Naomi’s closest relative made no effort to help her or Ruth. Boaz was the next relative in line after him. Would Boaz accept the responsibility of being their ‘kinsmanredeemer’ (technical jargon for the relative who paid out to support a widow)? Naomi began to realise that God hadn’t got it in for her. He did care! If she allowed Him, He would untwist the bitterness that was snarled up in her life.
Jesus is o u r Re d ee for som eone wh mer (technical o p ay s a jargon settled d e b t we o u r a cco owe). He unt with t h e c ro s God by d s. Naom y i praise B o az a s d God fo ing on a re d e e r sendin m er. How th a n k G g a od for s ending J re you going to e s u s to save yo u?
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6th March
sunday
judges
RUTH 3:1–18 ‘And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask.’ Ruth 3:11
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Ruth’s ‘kinsman-redeemer’ was supposed to marry her and try for a family so that the family name of her dead husband would pass to the next generation. Why didn’t Boaz propose to Ruth? He thought she was wonderful. Boaz knew that a closer relative was entitled to be her kinsman-redeemer before he had a look in. He also doubted that Ruth would want to marry him. Yes, he had money, but he was hardly the pin-up of Bethlehem, and he was getting on a bit. There were plenty of younger hunks around for Ruth to date. He did not want to pressurise Ruth into a relationship that was not based on mutual love. In the end, Ruth took the initiative and asked him to marry her. Boaz was heart-thumpingly pleased, but didn’t draw Ruth into a passionate clinch. Before he ordered his wedding suit (or was it a dress in those days?), he needed God to give the green light to the relationship. And that meant making sure he did not upset the relative with the first claim to be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer.
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After Ru th a n d B oaz’s fir advised st R u t h to be patie date, Naomi of God’s nt a n d n plans fo ot r r G o d rat her than her life. When w ush ahead e allow o u r p as relation sio ships, w e a n d o t n s to c o n t ro l o s p a re d ur h er p a lo Let God t of hurt and m eople are often isunder grab yo standin u, and y b ase d o g. our frie n love, n ndships ot lust. will be
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monday judges
7th March RUTH 4:1–12
1 samuel
‘I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife …’ Ruth 4:10
Will Boaz will the r get his bride or better claelative with the kinsman-r im to be Ruth’s her up theedeemer whisk instalment aisle? This ‘hop-alon is called g Boaz’. There were two parts to the cont ract if you wanted Naomi’s kinsman to be Ruth and -redeemer. 1. You agreed to buy the land belon ging to Naomi’s and sons, so it wa former husband s kept in the fami ly. 2. You agreed to marr y Ruth and star t a family so her dead husban the family name d could be passed of on to the next ge The unnamed re neration. lative with the fir st option on the deal until he read contract liked th the small print in e section 2. He wa he did not want nted the land bu a Moabite wife an t d children who wo on his proper ty. uld have a claim Boaz moved in to sign the contract (or hand over his did in those days sandal, as they ). He didn’t care so much about th plenty already, bu e land, he had t he did care abou t Ruth. He then did shuffle to tell he a hotfoot r the good news !
Showhe me t er answrd Lo h. ved Rut se he lo u a sus c e e J b m er give. a s r e d e e l to g e t b u t to d we e o t s c a d a e z e Boa e need r th e d ic e r t p n er e e d h n ’t t e ’t surr He didn He paid sus didn life for eemer. e d e J . R y r il u is o e His ’s fam te r G o d l, He gav hank Him could en settle the dea u. T o y g l to o rd s – deemin e r r a sanda fo mily rec s u fa s e ’s J d o k n G us . T h a name in ing your ! for putt d s a be er e never to
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