February 26, 2018

When Thank You Isn't Enough

Devotion for the Week...

Have you ever noticed that saying 'thank you' often feels inadequate for the gratitude we feel? We hear people saying things like, "Thank you just doesn't seem like enough, but it's all I have, so thank you again." And when one isn't enough, people say, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

While reading the book of Ruth a few weeks ago, I found a beautiful way to say thank you when 'thank you' just isn't enough.

The book of Ruth is the story of two women. Naomi is an Isrealite widow. Ruth is Naomi's daughter-in-law, also widowed and from the country of Moab. When Ruth's husband died, Naomi urged Ruth to return to her own family, but instead Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi, even leaving her own country and moving to Bethlehem when Naomi decided to return to her own people.

As widows with no men in the family to care for them, Naomi and Ruth had few opportunities to support themselves, but Ruth went to work gathering grain that was left behind after the harvesters passed through the fields.

The owner of the field came to check on the harvest and he noticed her immediately. When told who she was, he said to her, "Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don’t go to any other fields. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well." (Ruth 2:8,9). This is significant because he was offering his protection to her even though she was a foreigner.

Surprised, she asked what she had done to deserve such kindness. He said he had heard all she had done for Naomi, finishing with, "May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done" (v.12).

Isn't that beautiful?

May God reward you fully for what you have done.

My resources for thanking someone are finite. No matter how big the thing someone has done for me, there is only so much I can do to thank them. Only so much money to give them or use to buy them something special. Only so many cookies or other treats I could make. Only so many quilts I could give them. And as I've already said, very few words that really convey that feeling of incredible gratitude.

But God's resources? They are so infinite we can't even understand them!

Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him."
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Everything belongs to God, which means that anything is possible if we ask Him to repay people for the good they have done. There are no limits to the blessings He could bestow on them.

Isn't that exactly what we would wish for them when 'thank you' is not enough?

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