Trust God to Provide

Wilmer Mclean famously claimed that the Civil War started in his front yard and ended in his parlor. He's somewhat accurate in that assessment.

Wilmer McLean and his family lived on a farm near Bull Run Creek in Virginia. As the first battle of the Civil War neared - the First Battle of Bull Run - Confederate General B. G. T. Beauregard used McLean's farmhouse as a headquarters. The family barn served as a make-shift hospital for the wounded. After the battle, Wilmer, having had enough of war, fled the family farm and settled in a house in Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia.

He moved because he wanted to flee destruction and certain death near Bull Run. However, at the end of the war, an aide to General Robert E. Lee selected McLean's house as the place to negotiate the surrender of the Confederate forces. After everything was signed, soldiers began to raid his house for souvenirs of the signing of the document that effectively ended the Civil War.

He fled to escape destruction, and in the end, his house was ramsacked by people wanting a piece of history.

Elimelech had the same thought in Ruth 1:1-5. Israel experienced a famine, so he packed up his family and moved to Moab. But things didn't get any better. Over the course of ten years, Elimelech died, as did his sons, leaving his wife Naomi a widow with no heirs to take care of her.

Elimelech made a mistake we often make. He trusted his own thoughts and instincts rather than God to get him through a tough situation. You see, God had promised to bless Israel and to provide for them. Ignore these promises, Elimelech took his family to Israel's enemy to provide for them. He simply didn't trust God to provide for his family and his nation.

Yet, God did provide for them. He ended the famine in Elimelech's absence, and Israel once again had plenty of food for harvest. Had they stayed, things would have worked out quite differently.

We do the same thing. Instead of trusting on God to provide for us, we worry and fret and scheme. We try to find a solution to the problem instead of seeking Jesus for an answer. Instead of staying put in God's will, we venture out on our own apart from his blessings.

When times are tough and thinks look bleak, as a child of God, you need to turn to your Heavenly Father. He will provide on the journey. He promised he would, and God does not break his promises.

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