I’m Sorry, but I Have Needs of My Own Right Now

I don’t know how I’m going to take care of anyone else right now. I really need someone to take care of me. How can I possibly meet anyone else’s needs when I am lacking myself?

Have you ever felt like that? I know I have. Life is hard. Sometimes it feels like we have too many needs of our own to be there for anyone else. We aren’t sure if we can set our own needs aside for anyone else. When is it our turn? If we don’t take care of ourselves right now then no one else will. Maybe you are going through a really tough time and you just feel like you need to shift the focus away from others and onto yourself for a while.

I understand. It makes sense from a human perspective. But God has another way.

Ruth

Ruth took care of her mother-in-law when she lost her sons even though Ruth had just lost her husband. She could have easily said, “I’m sorry Naomi. I can’t take care of you right now. I really just need to go back home where someone can take care of me. We both are sad and feeling without and I can’t carry the weight for us both.” But instead she put aside her own needs and met the needs of another.

She left her own family and country to go with Naomi to hers, knowing that it would be her responsibility to find a way to provide for them. That’s a heavy weight for a young girl to carry, but she was willing. But the first day she went into the fields to gather grain, she caught the eye of the owner and he took her in as if she was his own maidservant. Boaz provided a way for her to have food and water and he also offered her protection. When she asked him why he was being so kind to her, he said:

All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.

Ruth 2:11-12

May God Reward You

Boaz had been kind to Ruth because he saw her kindness towards Naomi. Because she was willing to work to provide for them, he wanted to help her. Since they had no men to take care of them, he also wanted to protect her.

Boaz wanted to repay her for everything she had done for Naomi, but He also wanted the Lord to reward her. Not only had she made a great sacrifice, but she had placed her trust in Israel’s God. It was as if he was trying to tell her that she would not regret it. She left her own country and gods to come to Israel, trusting in their God to take care of her, and Boaz wanted her to see that she would indeed be taken care of.

Ruth seemed totally relieved.

Then she said, “I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”

Ruth 2:13

This was exactly what Ruth needed! Surely, she had been worried about being able to provide and care for Naomi. Not only that, but she needed someone to provide and care for her. She must have been lonely and scared, yet this man had comforted her and provided her with protection. Because she had been willing to put Naomi’s needs ahead of her own, God had provided for hers.

God Will Take Care of You

We tend to think that if we set aside our own needs to provide for the needs of others, that we will not be taken care of. But Ruth was taken care of precisely because she set aside her own needs to be there for Naomi. God used Ruth to meet Naomi’s needs and Boaz to meet Ruth’s needs. That’s often how God works. We are His hands and feet here on this earth. He doesn’t have to work through people. He has power to meet our needs solely on His own, and sometimes He does. But He also uses us.

That’s why we must be willing. Even if you feel like you don’t have anything left to give, even when you really want someone to take care of you, remember Ruth. Set aside your own needs and meet the needs of others. Those things that you lay down, the Lord will pick up. Trust Him to meet your needs. Like Ruth, when you seek refuge under the wings of the Lord, He will prove Himself worthy.

The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His sight. With the merciful, You show Yourself merciful. With the blameless man, You show yourself blameless. You deal purely, with the purified. With the crooked, You make yourself seem torturous. You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down.

2 Samuel 22:25-28

Links

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This is an excerpt from “Kindness and Care” as taught on YouTube, Podcast, and written on Substack. Read the beginning of the lesson for free. Or read it in its entirety, along with previous lessons over the Ten Commandments, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges, for $6/month or $60/year. Once subscribed, you’ll receive one lesson each week by email after that and access to all previous lessons. Print all the material you need with one subscription. Cancel anytime.

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