Hard Ground and Tender Mercy

Happy Sunday! It's time for today's devotional from Our Daily Bread. Our writer for today is James Banks, and the reading is titled Hard Ground and Tender Mercy. When James was just six years old, his older brother David died tragically in an ice skating accident. It was the day before David's fourteenth birthday. In the years that followed, James tried his best to console his mother Margaret, who in her deep grief sometimes reminded herself that her elder son would never have to face the challenges of growing up.

In James Berry's fertile imagination, decades later, that same idea would burgeon into inspiration for a much-loved children's story character who never aged, Peter Pan. Like a flower pushing its way through pavement, good emerged even from the hard ground of unthinkable heartache. How comforting is the thought that God, in an infinitely more creative way, is able to bring good out of our most difficult circumstances? A beautiful illustration of this occurs in the Old Testament story of Ruth. Naomi lost her two sons, leaving her without means or support. Her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth, chose to remain with Naomi to help provide for her and to serve her God. In the end, God's provision brought them unexpected joy. Ruth remarried and had a child, and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. He would also be listed among the ancestors of Jesus. God's tender mercy reaches beyond our ability to fathom and meets us in surprising places. Keep looking.

Perhaps you'll see it today. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Ruth, chapter 4, verses 13 through 22. So, Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi, Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel.

He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth. Then, Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, Naomi has a son, and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. This, then, is the family line of Perez.

Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron, the father of Ram. Ram, the father of Amenadab. Amenadab, the father of Noshon. Noshon, the father of Salmon. Salmon, the father of Boaz. Boaz, the father of Obed. Obed, the father of Jesse.

And Jesse, the father of David. Now let's pray. Thank you, God, for meeting us and sitting with us in our deepest sorrow, walking with us through our pain and gently lifting us out of our despair. Thank you that one day you'll wipe every tear from our eyes because you're greater than every heartache or difficulty that we'll ever face. Thank you for the hope that we have in you and the knowledge that you are always with us. We love you, Lord. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.