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away all the excuses that men give for their lives. “What can
you expect from so and so? He was not loved by his parents.
He was abused as a child, and he had to grow up in that
environment.” “What can you expect from someone who has
experienced such tragedy?” Well, I will tell you what God
expects. He expects an oasis in the desert. God has provided
in Christ Jesus everything necessary for us to be an oasis in the
desert.
A person is always the product of his environment. So,
do you see why it is so important that Jesus Christ be your
environment? You are going to become the environment in
which you live. What the atmosphere is to the bird and what
the water is to the fish, Christ is to the believer and fellowship
with God. We were created to have God as our element, as our
environment, and we are to live in Him and move in Him. It is
quite incidental how bad the conditions were in our past or how
bad they are now; where we live, where we work, where we go
to school or where we transact our business. Do not have the
idea, “What can you expect?” God expects an oasis, and He
illustrates it in the book of Ruth. It shows the possibilities of
victory in an environment of defeat.
I do not want you to get the idea that if God burns the
message of Ruth into your heart that your life is going to turn
into an oasis without problems. You see, the whole point of
Ruth is that it’s an oasis in the middle of a desert. The problems
do not go away. What good is an oasis if it is not in the desert?
Just from a quick scan, here are some of the problems Ruth dealt
with; widowhood, backsliding, past sin, in-laws, love affairs,
idolatry, prejudice, capital, labor, poverty, relocating, courtship,
marriage, faith, facing the future, losing loved ones, selfishness
and old age.
The Book of Ruth is a sociological masterpiece.
Anyone who ever writes a book on human behavior should
study the Book of Ruth. It is brilliant the way God has given us
the solution to all of these problems. God wants us to become
like Ruth, an oasis in the desert where everything around us is
all messed up and cold and indifferent, and people are failing,