Ruth

Ruth 1:1-18, Ruth 3:1-13, Ruth 4:13-15

If you have never read the book of Ruth and are not familiar with the story, I encourage you to read and study the four-chapter book. But until then, here is a little recap:

A woman named Naomi loses her husband and two sons, leaving herself and two daughters-in-laws as widows. Naomi went to return to her homeland as a widow and Ruth decided to go with her and refused to take no for an answer; Ruth is not from Naomi’s land, so she would be an outsider. When getting back to her homeland, Naomi remembers that her husband had a relative (Boaz) who could marry Ruth and redeem them both. Ruth and Boaz are introduced, and following Naomi’s instructions, Ruth goes to Boaz and asks if he will marry her. Boaz verifies that it is okay with the other relative in line to be the redeemer and marries Ruth!

From this story, we see that Ruth is faithful and trusting.

Ruth could have stayed in her own land, gone back to her own mother, and remarried, guaranteeing a life of protection and provision. In fact, this is what the other daughter-in-law did, yet Ruth faithfully joined Naomi in her journey back home as her daughter. She was faithful to following and keeping the relationship even when the circumstances weren’t in her favor. She trusted that Naomi’s people could be her people and that Naomi’s God could be her God (Ruth 1:16). She trusted that even if it was not the easy path, it was best to stick with the family she committed to through marriage. 

She then trusted Naomi to do as she said. She bravely went to Boaz when he was sleeping in the middle of the night. She sat at the end of his bed and asked if he would redeem her through marriage. The word redeem means to rescue, and in these times, a woman needed a man (who could own property and work for wages to provide). Boaz marrying Ruth would not only provide Ruth with redemption but also Naomi being her mother-in-law.

Though the book of Ruth is short, Ruth trusts God faithfully through each chapter. 

Oftentimes when faced with a difficult situation, it can be tempting to go with the route that seems easiest and even the route that we think we can take on our own. Instead of trusting that God can provide and God’s will is the best way, we run away from having to trust and rely on God and choose what we think we can accomplish on our own. When trying to do things on our own, we really just make it more difficult for ourselves. God is the God of the impossibles (Matthew 19:16), He is sovereign over all (Ephesians 1:11), and He is faithful even when we are not (2 Timothy 2:13). 

Because of Ruth’s faithfulness and childlike faith, God used her to be a part of the lineage of the greatest King ever to walk the earth: Jesus. Boaz and Ruth bore a son named Obed, who fathered Jesse, who fathered David, who was promised to bring the Savior of the world through his offspring (2 Samuel 7:12-13). 

Although the road to trusting God may be more difficult, we can trust that God’s ways are higher than ours and that He can use us to be a part of immeasurably more than we would have ever imagined for ourselves.