Stop spectating and Start participating

Step out and seize the miracle God has for you, instead of watching what He’s doing in someone else’s life. 

God never promised constant comfort. But He promises His presence. He often leads us beyond our comfort zones into places that feel stretching, exposing, and even painful. Yet it is in our weakness that His power is made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:9).

When we are pressed, tested, and refined, His glory becomes visible in our lives (1 Peter 1:7). Then in our weakness, others don’t just hear about Him. They see Him at work in us.

Naomi and Ruth could have stayed back in Moab, grieving over the tragedies that had struck their family. But while in Moab, Naomi heard that “the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread” (Ruth 1:6). Though they had enough to survive in Moab, they longed to be part of what God was doing in Bethlehem.

Orpah chose to remain in Moab, satisfied with what was familiar. But Ruth, with Naomi, chose obedience and alignment with God’s purpose, declaring, “Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16).

They could have stayed in Moab, experienced ordinary provision, and merely wished for the blessings of Bethlehem. But mere wishing never changes our circumstances .Obedience does. Their decision to move positioned them for redemption, restoration, and divine purpose. 

Returning to Bethlehem was not easy for Naomi. She carried deep grief, shame, and the reproach of being a widow who had lost both her sons. She cried out, “I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty” (Ruth 1:21). She no longer wanted to be called Naomi, meaning “pleasant” or “delight,” but instead chose the name Mara, meaning “bitter,” because of the bitterness she was carrying in her soul (Ruth 1:20).

One can almost hear the questions running through her mind: What will people ask me? What will they say about me? How will I explain my pain? Her return meant facing people and facing herself.

I deeply relate to Naomi’s story. After tragedies in my own life, I avoided people. I chose hiding over exposure, silence over conversation. I feared questions because they touched my weakness and shame. I withdrew for years — didn’t attend gatherings, didn’t buy party clothes, didn’t meet relatives, and didn’t even like visitors at home. Like Naomi, I ran as far as I could from places and people that reminded me of my loss.

Coming back to the story — despite all her insecurities, Naomi chose to leave her place of comfort and hiding and return, trusting her God. And when she reached Bethlehem, something unexpected happened. No one mocked her. No one confronted her with humiliating questions. Instead, “the whole town was stirred because of them” (Ruth 1:19).

This was not ordinary. It was the Lord Himself softening hearts as Naomi stepped out in obedience. God honors obedience, especially when it costs us emotionally (1 Samuel 15:22). What she feared became the very place of her restoration.

Just as Naomi returned to her home, the Lord longs for us to come back to Him. He waits for our return like the Father in the parable of the prodigal son, watching, longing, and ready to embrace (Luke 15:20). Every sorrow, every shaking, every loss is not meant to drive us away but to draw us closer to Him. 

Let me bring Naomi’s story into my own life.

There came a point when I sensed the Lord giving me boldness to face people again. My circumstances hadn’t changed, but I had. I was no longer controlled by how others saw me. As my identity in Christ went deeper, I understood that what truly mattered was living in obedience to Him as His beloved daughter. 

I began attending functions. I faced hard questions — questions I wished I had answers to. Some people came with sympathy, which I struggled with. Others came with curiosity. Yet I kept smiling, because I knew it wasn’t my strength but His power at work in me. 

Strangely, in some places, no one asked anything at all. And there I stood, just like Naomi, in awe of what the Lord was doing. I would quietly thank Him, knowing He had gone before me and softened hearts (Ruth 1:19). God truly honors even the smallest steps of obedience we take (Zechariah 4:10) 

God honored the steps of Naomi and Ruth. Their small acts of yielding became the doorway into their divine purpose. As they moved toward Bethlehem, the house of bread, God’s greater plan began to unfold. 

Those who once struggled to survive encountered abundance. Ruth, the widow, was redeemed by Boaz and through their union came Obed, the grandfather of King David.  A woman once labeled a cursed Moabite became part of a blessed lineage, woven into the story of redemption itself. (Deuteronomy 23:3 → Matthew 1:5).

Had they remained in Moab, they would have missed the blessing. Poverty would have remained their portion. Their home would have continued to echo with loss and grief. But obedience shifted their story from curse to covenant, from famine to fullness, from sorrow to legacy. The only demand from the Lord was a tiny act of obedience of leaving Moab and coming to Bethlehem. 

The Bible is filled with people who stepped out in obedience and their obedience changed history. Who can forget Abraham who left his father’s house at God’s command and became the father of faith ? (Genesis 12:1–4; Romans 4:16). Had he stayed, we may never have read his story or learned from his faith.

Then there is the woman with the issue of blood. She would never have received her healing if she had remained at home. She had to go out in faith. She had to push through a large crowd just to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment (Mark 5:25–34). This was not comfortable. Many of us know how hard it is to push through a crowd to meet a celebrity or get to the front row of a show . Now imagine doing that while physically weak, bleeding, and exhausted.

Yet she was desperate, desperate for her miracle, desperate for Jesus. Comfort could no longer contain her faith. Had she stayed home, her condition would have worsened, and death would have been inevitable. She had already lost her finances and was nearing poverty. But when she stepped out on hearing about Jesus, her destiny changed forever.

Hannah’s pain drove her to the temple at Shiloh, where she received her miracle (1 Samuel 1:9–20). She did not confine herself to her home. Had she done so, she would never have held Samuel in her arms, and Israel would never have experienced the blessings that came through him. She stepped out of her comfort to meet her miracle at Shiloh.

Every year, as she went to the house of the Lord, Peninnah, her rival, provoked her deeply to make her miserable (1 Samuel 1:6). Being reminded of her barrenness, especially on a journey meant to bring comfort, was incredibly painful. Those words alone were enough to stop her from going.

Yet Hannah endured. She pushed through the pain, the shame, and the provocation and she received her miracle, not at home, but in the presence of the Lord. Her obedience too was seen by God. 

I love what Zacchaeus did. Though he was short in stature, his desire to see Jesus was greater than his limitations. He knew that pushing through the crowd wouldn’t work. So, he climbed a tree instead (Luke 19:1-9) And yes ! Jesus looked up.

That unusual step, taken by a sinner, caught the Lord’s attention. Jesus chose to stay at his home. Zacchaeus repented, his life was transformed, and salvation came to his house that day. 

At the same time, the Bible also shows us moments when Jesus Himself walked toward those who were suffering. He went to Peter’s mother-in-law as she lay sick with fever and healed her (Matthew 8:14–15). He went to the man who had been lying helpless by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years and restored him (John 5:1–9). These people could not come to Jesus and so Jesus, in His kindness and mercy, went to them.

I deeply relate to this. There was a season in my life when I was drowned in depression, shut inside a room, unable to move forward. In those days, the Lord sent people to my home carrying the breakthroughs and miracles I needed. The same happened when I was confined to bed after my hip surgery. I could not go out  but He reached me. 

Now that I am back on my feet — healthy enough to walk, run, and move, I know I must go to Him. I’m not saying that staying at home and praying isn’t powerful. It truly is. But God often calls us to break out of our comfort zones, not settle into them, so that we can step into something greater than we’ve known before. Obedience may cost us comfort but it always carries power.

Go up to Jesus and receive the miracle. Remaining too comfortable will never take us into the Promised Land. For those who cannot, do not worry. Jesus will meet you exactly where u are. 

Psalm 139: 7-10

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning,

And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me,

And Your right hand shall hold me.