The Emptiness of Chasing Bread
Ruth 1:6
“Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.”
There was a couple I knew years ago who seemed to be a very good Christian family. They were involved in the church, and they seemed to be one of the stalwart families in that church. I was preaching a revival meeting in the church where they attended and noticed that they were not there. I asked the pastor where they were, and he responded that they moved to another area because the husband accepted a new position on his job. Amazingly, a few years later I preached in the church where they moved their membership. While I was in that meeting, they requested to talk to me. They told me that their move was a mistake. The husband told me that he thought making more money would enable him to do more for God, but he realized after losing his children that he made the wrong move. Though they found a good church to attend, they left the will of God for their lives because they chased bread. The bread they thought would fill them left them empty.
Naomi and her husband made the same mistake. Verse 1 tells us that they left Bethlehem-judah because there was a famine in the land. They moved to the land of Moab to avoid the pains of the famine. Their intent was not to stay, but to pass through the land until the famine was over. Yet, they didn’t pass through, they ended up staying for awhile to their detriment. They left the will of God for bread, but they found the bread did not satisfy. While in the land, Naomi’s husband passed away, her two sons married heathen women, and eventually her two sons died. After all these tragedies, she moved back because she heard the “LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.” Her whole life was about chasing bread, but she found out that chasing bread left her empty. The bread that she thought would fill her left her in a state of emptiness and bitterness. Chasing bread did not give her what she wanted.
Let me remind you that chasing bread always leaves you empty. You don’t follow a job, you follow the will of God. You don’t move to a new location because you can make more money, you move to a new location because that is God’s will for your life. You must remember that God’s will is not based on your finances or the economy. Just because you can do better financially does not make it God’s will. Many people have chased bread only to find themselves living a life of regret.
Christian, God can take care of you in the famine as well as He can in times of plenty. If you start chasing bread, you will never stop chasing bread. You will find that no matter where you go, there will always be a place where you can make more money or acquire a better position. Instead of chasing bread, you need to trust God that He can take care of you right where you are. If you are honest with yourself, you will probably see that you have everything that you truly need.
Let me encourage you to place your roots in the will of God. Don’t look at money and prestige as a determination to relocate, but always base a move off God’s will. It is in God’s will that you will find the fullness of life. If you chase bread, you will end up like Naomi, empty and bitter. Be satisfied with what you have, and determine that the only thing that will move you is God’s will.