April 7 - Ruth1:1-4:12

Good morning everyone,

This morning we come to another one of my favorite books, the book of Ruth. The name Ruth means “friendship” and her story, though short, is a vividly warm story of love, dedication and redemption. 

The story takes place in the dark, uncertain times of judges we’ve just been reading about and begins with Elimelech moving his wife, Naomi, and their two sons from Bethlehem where a great famine was taking place to live in the country of Moab. The Moabites were cave dwellers, decedents of Lot from his two daughters who had tricked him into sex so they would not die virgins and Moab was one of the countries that originally oppressed Israel, so the famine must have been awful for Elimelech to take his family there. Sadly, Elimelech dies leaving his wife a widow with two sons in a foreign land. The boys would marry Moabite women and then they too would die leaving Naomi with the two daughters-in-law. Imagine how heartbroken this woman must have been and she decides she is going to go back to Bethlehem to be with her own people. She encourages the two young women to go back to their own families and while one does, it would be Ruth who would stand by the side of this woman she had obviously grown to love and was faithfully devoted to.

Because the women were destitute, when they arrived back in Bethlehem Ruth went to the fields to collect the leftover grain. It was the law in the land at that time for the corners of the field to not be harvested nor the stalks that were accidentally dropped to be picked up allowing the “poor” to go in and find food for themselves. It was while Ruth was doing this that she caught the eye of Boaz, whose name means “standing in strength”, a sensitive, kind man who would prove to be her hero. 

I love how in 2:10 Ruth asks Boaz, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?” and Boaz told her, “I’ve been told all about you, Ruth” He knew her. He knew her background, her actions, he had his eye on her and knew all about her and despite her background, where she came from, Boaz loved her and would be her redeemer. 

What a beautiful picture of Jesus’ love for us. Jesus knows where we come from and our intentions, He knows our hearts, He knows everything there is to know about all of us. He knows it all, and yet … and yet He loves us. God’s intimate and total knowledge of us and that it is accompanied by immeasurable love for us is so huge that it is sometimes hard for us to wrap our heads around it, to grasp it, but it is the absolute truth we can trust and believe in it. Even typing right now I can see the universe, how boundless it is, and our God’s love is infinitely larger than that. I am reminded of the lyrics of Stuart Townend: “How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That He should give His only Son, To make a wretch His treasure.” Amen?!

I pray you have a great day, to God be the glory,
God bless you all …