Loyalty

It is 6th January, Wednesday morning, 2021, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day.

If we go to the Book of Ruth, in the Old Testament, Ruth Chapter 1, and I am reading from verse 16:

But Ruth said:

“Entreat me not to leave you,

Or to turn back from following after you;

For wherever you go, I will go;

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;

Your people shall be my people,

And your God, my God.

Where you die, I will die,

And there will I be buried.

The Lord do so to me, and more also,

If anything but death parts you and me.”

The Lord wants us to speak today about loyalty. You see, Ruth became absolutely loyal to Naomi, and as a result God rewarded her and she became part of the royal family, the very family that brought The Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven to earth.

You see, Obed was her son and Jessie was Obed’s son, and of course the father of King David was Jesse, and we go right down through the line to where The Master was born: Ruth’s reward for loyalty.

Remember, she wasn’t even a Jew. She came from Moab.

Jesus today, is looking for loyalty, in this time of the Covid 19, when everyone is doubting and questioning all kinds of things.

The Lord is looking for loyalty, not betrayal, not compromise. There is no place for fair-weather Christians in the world today, depending on which way the wind is blowing.

That is why that farmer, Job, is so loved by God.

You see, all hell broke loose on his farm. He lost everything. His own wife even said, “Why don’t you just curse God and die.”

His reply was in Job Chapter 13 and verse 15, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

I remember, like it was yesterday, in 1990, I booked the Ladysmith Town Hall for the first campaign of my life.

It was 6.45 in the evening. I was down in the dungeon under the Town Hall and I was praying, waiting for the people to come.

I peeped through the door. There wasn’t a soul in the hall. I was devastated.

That was my defining moment because I said, “Lord, what is happening?”

And The Lord said to me in my heart, “Are you going to remain loyal to Me or not?”

I said, “Lord, I will even preach to the chairs if I have to.”

And you know, I came up out of that dungeon. I came up onto that platform and the hall was half-full.

I firmly believe that The Lord sent angels that night, just to fill those chairs. By the end of the week, the hall was full, top and bottom.

God is looking for loyalty today like never before, and just in closing, 2 Chronicles Chapter 16 and verse 9a:

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”

God bless you and have a wonderful day.