Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Outlandish (05/19/11)
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TITLE: This Land Is Not My Own
By Shanta Richard
05/23/11 -
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As she ministered to the needs of her mistress she noticed the sadness in her face. She found out that her master was a leper. Terror struck her when she heard that dreaded word. In her country a leper was a hopeless, abandoned, outcast. Suddenly she remembered her father talking about a prophet in Samaria who was the hope of the hopeless. She told her mistress about the prophet in Samaria.
Naaman, the Syrian master, was willing to try anything. He went to the prophet in Samaria and was cured. He came back with two loads of earth and built an altar in Syria and worshipped Jehovah, the Lord of Israel.
The noon sun was hot and the air was humid. Ruth wiped the sweat from her face with the back of her hand as she gathered the sheaves of wheat. This was her choice. She had left the comfort of her home to follow her mother-in-law and take care of her.
She was Moabitess and the Jewish laborers made fun of her outlandish features and manners. But God gave her favor in the eyes of the master, Boaz, who fell in love with her and married her. In time she became the great- grand-mother of Israel’s mighty King David.
It was late in the evening. Supper was over and the servants had retired for the day. Potipar, the master had gone to a banquet in Pharaoh’s palace and would not be back till the early hours of the morning. Joseph, overseer of the household was closing up for the night, checking the doors and putting the lights off.
Joseph was a Jew. Despite his outlandish looks and behavior, God had given him favor in the eyes of Potipar. That night, Potipar’s wife tried to seduce him and when he rejected her she had him put in the Egyptian dungeon.
But God had other plans for Joseph. He lifted him out of the dungeon and placed him in Pharaoh’s court. When the great famine prevailed over the land for seven years Joseph was able to provide food for the children of Israel.
A silver moon sailed across the dark blue skies attended by a fleet of sparkling stars. I sat by my window contemplating the lives of these three persons. God had used them in foreign lands to fulfill His divine will. It dawned on me that I was a foreigner too. I had relinquished my citizenship of this world the day I accepted Jesus as my Savior. I became a citizen of His Kingdom the day my sins were washed away by His atoning blood.
The Bible says:
“You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness unto His marvelous light. (I Peter 2:9)”
Therefore I have to be outlandish in my appearance, my speech, my behavior and my outlook.
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