I hope you are enjoying your journey through the Scriptures this year and I pray that some of my simple, devotional thoughts on these passages will cause you to stop and seriously apply God’s Word to your hearts. I just want to share briefly this morning a couple of things that struck me in my reading.
Ruth 3:10 – “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter,. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after you men, whether poor or rich.” When Naomi instructs Ruth on how to ask Boaz to enter into a levirate marriage with her (Deut. 25:5-6), Ruth complies and Boaz is deeply moved. The same language used by Ruth is found in Ezekiel 16:8 where it describes God’s covenant love for his bride, Jerusalem. What Boaz promises to do for Ruth is a beautiful picture of Christ willing did for us. In his covenant love for us, God redeemed us from our sins that we would know the riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ (Gospel Transformation Bible). Where else would you and I reasonably place our trust than in the one who has shown us such love?
Ruth 4:17 – “And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, ‘A son has been born to Naomi.’ They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.” God worked through a pagan woman to continue the lineage leading to King David. He was the one who drew Ruth into his story of redemption and he does the same thing to us. God continually shows mercy to the most undeserving or to the least likely candidate. May we always remember that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace or unworthy of serving their redeeming Lord! Again, the Gospel Transformation Bible puts it this way: “The story of God’s people has always been one of human frailty and God’s overriding grace. Contrary to our natural instincts and the way the world intuitively operates, God delights to draw near to and magnificently use those who the world considers weak, needy, helpless, and marginalized.” Aren’t you glad?
See you next week as we begin to move through the book of Acts.