One of the most telling statements about the people during the time of Ruth is found in the last sentence of Judges.

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

Eugene Peterson writes it this way in The Message, “At that time there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing.”

If I could make an educated guess based on my own bent, I would say all their doing was about relieving the discomfort of hunger with whatever felt comfortable in the moment. Until it didn’t. Then they noticed the gnawing, empty feeling inside their chest was back.

It’s uncomfortable to feel hungry no matter where the hunger stems from, and we are all hungry. It is how we’re made or at least how we are in our brokenness. We feel the discomfort of hunger and attempt to fill it. It’s not much different than the Israelites.

Want to learn to see the discomfort of hunger as an invitation to enter God’s presence? to experience true nourishment and satisfaction? It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. It’s a returning again and again.

Join me wherever you listen to podcasts (just click below) for a Morning Meditation on the discomfort of hunger through the story of Ruth.

May you be blessed to discover the fullness of Jesus over and over again.