Christian Devotional – March 12, 2019

Lonely people often try to isolate themselves even more. Naomi did. She already felt alone and abandonded, so what did she do? She tried to be completely alone. Read Ruth 1:8-9.

And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
Ruth 1:8 NASB
https://bible.com/bible/100/rut.1.8.NASB

She basically tells them, “Look, you two have been great, but I got nothing more for you, so you should go back to a place where people can support you.” Lonely people often feel they have nothing to give and assume that people want to be around them only because of what they can get. Naomi was nice. She was polite. But, she was very clear that she felt worthless and lacked value. She felt she had nothing to offer.

Our feelings are real and they have value, but they are not always true. We have to learn to distinguish between the value our feelings give to us and any lies or falsehoods they may be based in. Naomi felt she wasn’t worth anything and had nothing to contribute and so was trying to “get rid” of anyone who might ask of her for something.

Do we try to push people away? We can give all sorts of reasons and excuses to ourselves for why we are doing it, but ultimately we have lost faith that we are worth anything or have anything to offer. As a child of God, those thoughts simply aren’t true. We have God, so we actually have everything, even when we don’t feel like it. Are we pushing people away when we should be drawing them closer, not to us, but to God?