Ruth

Ruth’s family was certain, Ruth had lost her mind! There was no other explanation for her taking over that dead-end job.  No amount of reasoning, arguing could change her mind… 

She was going to leave her family, her friends, her country and move to a foreign land... to take care of her mother-in-law? Her dead husband’s mother?  A woman who has nothing to offer in return?  It is confirmed, Ruth had lost her mind!!!

Ruth knows what this is going to cost her… Naomi knows the sacrifice Ruth is about to make and discourages her, but Ruth is determined.  Ruth begs her mother-in-law; “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”  In the midst of a thousand protests Ruth begins her journey with Naomi to Bethlehem. 

The foreign woman's story slowly reaches the ears of Boaz, a wealthy relative of Naomi.  When he offers to help, Ruth can't believe her “luck”.  Boaz explains; "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.  May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

Ruth’s life gets better when Boaz asks her hand in marriage.  They live happily ever after, but it's not THE END!!!   Ruth and Boaz have a son who they named Obed, who happens to be the Grandfather of King David. 

The young widow who put her security and comfort on the line to take care of her mother-in-law has entered the line of Jesus Himself!  She has been rewarded by the God of Israel under whose wings she had taken refuge, and her name has made it to the Holy Scriptures!!!

As I reflect more on the life of Ruth I begin to realize how self-centered and self-obsessed I am.  If I am in Ruth’s position, I am certain I would do the exact opposite…  I do not think I am capable of such a sacrifice... I do not think I will ever put my comfort and security on the line for another person... and I realise how weak, how small I am before Ruth.  As I started to look at myself in disgust, the Lord put a song into my heart and I realise I have hope... 

No not by might, nor even power

But by your Spirit O Lord

Healer of hearts, Binder of wounds

Lives that are lost restored…