NOW and NOT YET

 

OCTOBER 13, 2023

 

RUTH 1:14-16

 

And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15“Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.”

16But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

 

 

We close our week of Devotions as we meditate upon the life of a young woman who lost her future, and the way God rebuilt her life.

There was a woman named Naomi, from Bethlehem. Due to a famine, she, and her family, relocated to a nearby country, called Moab. Years later, Naomi’s husband died, and her two sons married Moabite women. We are told that Naomi’s sons also died, and she was left with her two daughters-in-law in a country that was foreign and unfamiliar to her.

Naomi faced many hardships, and she eventually set her sights on a return to her hometown, Bethlehem. One of the young widows, Ruth, chose to go with her mother-in-law. Naomi tried to deter her, but Ruth refused to stay in Moab, saying to her Mother-in-law, “Wherever you go, I will go”.  What Ruth didn’t know was that God had a plan to rebuild both of their lives in Bethlehem.

Ruth went to find food for herself and Naomi and went out to glean heads of grain after the harvesters had finished. There was a practice to leave the spilled grains on the field for the poor to gather after the reaping was concluded, as Leviticus 23:22 had commanded. Gleaning the spilled grain may sound easy, but actually it was very difficult work.

Ruth happened to gather grains in fields that belonged to a man named Boaz. Boaz was a distant relative of Naomi. He is described as a righteous wealthy man. Ruth found favor with Boaz and received support and kindness from him. Ruth obeyed the instructions of her mother-in-law, became the wife of Boaz and they were blessed with a son. Later in chapter 4 we read “The women of Bethlehem praised the Lord that Naomi was restored through Ruth and Boaz’s son Obed (Ruth 4:14-15). Here is a neat genealogical detail worth underlining, Obed was the father of Jesse who was the father of King David.

Ruth did not know that one day she would be the great grandmother of King David and be an important person in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

Ruth’s story has many faith lessons but today I would like us to notice this lesson. When we continue to do the right things even in the times of difficulties, God will bless and use us in his great plan as he did Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite, an unlikely figure to show up in the Messiah’s lineage. But what Ruth did, in a hard and difficult circumstance was to announce to her Mother-in-law Naomi,  “Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” With that promise lived out, in obedience and kindness, Ruth was pleasing in the sight of God.

Please know this, you may have planned good things for your life, and right now it may feel so “off track” but God has plans for you, and like Ruth, who knows but that generations to come will be blessed through your obedience to “let go and let God have his way” in your life, even in the hardest of experiences.

 

LET US PRAY

Lord, I bow before You in humble submission and pray that in Your mercy and kindness You would help me to simply let go of all the fears and worries, problems and doubts, guilt and disappointments that seem to be filling my heart and mind each day.

Fill my hurting soul with Your love and peace I pray. Fill the emptiness and pain that is tearing my life apart. Lord, you know what is in my heart and why I am going through this time of fear and worry. Help me Lord, to take every thought captive, to hand it over to You as it rears up in my mind and help me to replace it with thoughts and words of Scripture that tell of Your great might and wonderful power to rebuild my life.

Amen.

Author Unknown