The book of Ruth is perhaps one of the most beloved books in the Old Testament. It contains so many themes that demonstrate the best of people; aspirational character traits we all adore. If we want to see what loyalty looks like, go no further than Ruth’s steadfast love she has for her mother-in-law, Naomi. If you want to see what faith looks like in the face of the unknown, Ruth can show you. If you want to look at what sacrificial service looks like, read what Boaz offered someone who could never repay him. If you want to look at what perseverance through adversity looks like, walk alongside Naomi on her way home after she buried her husband and two sons.
The little story of Ruth contains monumental themes of redemption and hope. But as I was reading the story again, another lesson opened up to me. The Bible has a way of doing that, doesn’t it? Just when you think you have squeezed all that you could out of a story, the Spirit points you to insights you have never thought of before. This time, I found myself in the shoes of Ruth, one Gentile to another. Since most of my readers are Gentiles, I thought this might be a perfect lesson to highlight in my Tuesdays post.
We know the story of this Gentile woman. When Naomi and Elimelech left Bethlehem, they traveled from Israel to Moab to escape the devastation of famine. This was during the time of the Judges, before God gave the people the King they were longing for. While in Moab, the family settled down and Naomi’s two sons found Moabite women to marry. Ruth was one of her daughter-in-laws.
From what the Bible tells us, both young women seemed to be good people. When Naomi lost her husband, and then Ruth and Orpah lost their husbands, both Gentile women stayed with Naomi.
“But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” (Ruth 1:8-10 ESV).
It wasn’t until Naomi pressed her daughter-in-laws to return to their land and find new husbands that Orpah finally relented and returned home. But Ruth clung to Naomi.
“Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.” (Ruth 1:14 ESV).
In a quintessential act of loyalty, Ruth utters these precious words we know over three thousand years later:
“But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” (Ruth 1:16-17 ESV).
So, here’s the scene. Ruth, a Gentile woman, has made the decision to uproot her entire life to travel into a land of foreigners. Ruth was all in with Naomi to the point where Naomi’s God would be her God. She wouldn’t be a mere stranger in the land of Israel, she would be a proselyte and convert to the religion of her in-laws.
What followed was an inspirational story of love and protection, of providence and redemption. Little did Ruth know on the day she uttered the steadfast words of loyalty to her mother-in-law that she would make a decision which would cause repercussions to ripple throughout heaven and earth for centuries to come.
This humble woman who kept her oath of loyalty and submitted in humility to her redeemer was rewarded beyond her wildest expectations. She was not only taken in by Naomi’s wealthy relative as his wife, but she conceived a son and gave her mother-in-law the precious gift of being able to help raise another male child.
She was elevated from a position of humility and grafted into the family of God on earth. When she had nothing to offer, grace was showered upon her by her redeemer and her new God. She was given respect from the people of Bethlehem because of the great love and loyalty she had shown to Naomi, one of their own.
As I read through this story again, it dawned on me that I am Ruth. I am the foreigner, the Gentile who was called out of my land to journey with the people of God. Jesus came specifically to open his Kingdom to His lost sheep. I was lost and needed a redeemer, just like Ruth, and this is what Jesus said about me:
“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:16 ESV).
When the Gentile Centurion called Jesus Lord and asked for a favor from Him, believing Jesus could heal his paralyzed servant, even from a distance, Jesus marveled at his faith.
“When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:10-12 ESV).
That’s me. Not the Centurion, but the one who came from the West and was invited to recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven. I supposed this is most of you as well. Just as Ruth, a Gentile outsider, had taken a journey of faith and love, committing herself to follow the one true God of Naomi’s people, so do I. So do you.
Not only was Ruth redeemed, but God opened the windows of Heaven upon her and showered her with the richest of blessings. When she entered Israel in the time of the Judges, she became the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king, the man after God’s own heart–David. God not only grafted her into the Israelite nation, but he put the Messianic line through her seed. Our Lord and King, our God and Savior, our High Priest and Redeemer, Jesus the Christ, came from the line of this Gentile sojourner who left everything to follow a God who called her out of a land of sin and idolatry.
How could Ruth have known, in that moment of decision back in Moab, that the steps she would take would change the course of history as radically as it did? She couldn’t. But I suppose the same can be said of us. We may not have the bloodline of a king run in our veins, but the impact of our decision to leave everything to sojourn with Jesus on our pilgrimage to Heaven can have an impact we may never end up seeing with our own eyes.
One small word of hope we share with another Gentile lost in the world may be the thing that impacts the salvation of the lost for generations to come. One small act of service may be the catalyst that transforms the dead world of a lost soul who comes to know Jesus through our service to them.
Just like with Ruth, our God has a knack of taking the most unassuming lump of clay and molding a vessel of honor to His name we can scarcely imagine. And just like Ruth, we are invited to sit at the table with our King, with our brothers and sisters from the East and the West, and with the children of Israel who recognize Him as their promised Messiah.
Ruth’s story challenges us to consider what we might need to forsake to follow God fully. Are there comforts, habits, or relationships that keep us from fully embracing our identity as children of the King? And just as importantly, are we willing to trust that God’s plan is infinitely better than anything we could leave behind?
Today, take a moment to reflect on Ruth’s journey. Picture yourself at the King’s table, not because of anything you’ve done but because of His grace. Let that truth inspire you to live as a faithful member of God’s family, willing to leave all for the sake of following Him.
The King has made a place for you. Will you accept the invitation?
You don’t have to spend much time watching the news to realize we are living in a world that mirrors the warnings of Isaiah 5:20:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20 ESV).
As followers of Jesus, we must courageously resist the relentless call of our culture to redefine what is right and wrong, good and evil. We must stand firm in God’s truth, even when the tide of society pushes against us.
And what about justice? Surely, we can count on judges to uphold fairness and apply justice without bias, right? Sadly, even those entrusted to uphold justice can fall prey to corruption. Scripture reminds us:
“He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” (Proverbs 17:15 ESV).
When society reaches its most distorted state, it goes even further—writing its perversions into law. Imagine a nation so broken that it codifies injustice into its very statutes. The psalmist declares:
“Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?
They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.” (Psalm 94:20-21 ESV).
The moral decay we see today is no longer hidden in the shadows. What was once whispered in secret is now proclaimed boldly from the rooftops. But take heart—God is not mocked, and His justice will not be delayed forever. A day of reckoning is coming when the Righteous Judge will return, exposing every lie, righting every wrong, and making the crooked paths straight.
Let us take this as a sobering reminder to align ourselves with Him. Stand on the side of truth, the side of righteousness, the side of the King of Kings. When that great day comes, may we be found among those who lived boldly for His glory, holding fast to His unchanging Word.
I am in the book of Job in my daily Bible reading. One thing we learn from both Job and his friends is how easy it is to look at our circumstances and then draw conclusions about God that might not be right.
While God has blessed us with human reason, we need to be careful about how much confidence we place in the conclusions we draw. This was one of the biggest angst Jesus had with the Pharisees.
Job’s friends drew inferences about God that made our Creator say to them at the end of the book,
“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42:7-8 ESV).
Even Job wasn’t immune to the problem of elevating his inferences beyond what he should have. Listen to what God says to Job:
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:1-2 ESV).
And again,
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
“Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (Job 40:6-8 ESV).
While we all need to use our reason to draw conclusions as we read the word of God and determine how to apply it to us, we need to be careful how high we elevate our inferences and conclusions lest we be guilty of the same thing Job and his friends were guilty of when they did the same.
Our human conclusions are not equal to the words of God and we need to have the humility not to bind them upon others, or worse, bind them upon God Himself.
I am in the book of Isaiah in my daily Bible reading. What an amazing book and an amazing prophet. God gives him a glimpse of heaven and the throne room of God.
Isaiah gets a glimpse into the future of how God will retain and exert His sovereignty over the great nations of the earth. Isaiah gets a glimpse of God elevating the humble and bringing down the proud.
These glimpses must have been inspirational and comforting experiences for Isaiah. But the same is true for us today.
God gives us glimpses of His great power and sovereignty when we pray to Him and then witness the Creator answer our prayers. We get glimpses of our future when we read the words of Jesus about how He will prepare a place for us in His Father’s house and then return to bring us there. We get glimpses of how God retains ultimate control over the world and the kings who reign over people. It is Jesus, and Jesus alone, who determines how far He will let man reign in evil before being called to account.
The reason our glimpses are akin to Isaiah’s glimpses is because they all center on the living God. We believe He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). The same God Who gave Isaiah his words of prophecy gives us the words we can embrace and know to be true. They are the anchor we can use to plant our faith.
The prophecies we are given about our future give us glimpses that are sure and absolute. Today, spend a few moments in thankful prayer, praising God for the glimpses we anchor in, for the glimpses we find strength in, for the glimpses we can turn to in times of trouble to receive strength from.
Our God gave us these glimpses to comfort us on our journey home where,
“… no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him--” (1 Corinthians 2:9b ESV).
Chapter 3 in Ecclesiastes is a well-known portion of Scripture. For everything, there is a season. You can almost hear the tune in your head as you read the passage. After listing all the things there is a season to do, the writer says,
“What gain has the worker from his toil?
I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;
also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God’s gift to man.” (Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 ESV).
This is an insightful conclusion to what the writer just said. Everything has its seasons, and God has set eternity in our hearts. We grasp after the times to heal, the times to laugh, the times to dance, don’t we? We strive and work to build an existence for the things we take pleasure in.
We do this because God has put eternity in our hearts. We all know that our existence is never-ending, and we work to live in a state of bliss and joy, to amass things that make us happy.
But life teaches us that there is a time to kill, a time to weep, and a time to mourn. When we look in all the wrong places to satisfy our longing for eternity, we will never truly be satisfied.
There is a way God laid out for man by which we can find everlasting peace and joy, to satisfy that eternal yearning He put in our hearts. But we won’t find it in the things under the sun. We will only find it in the Son and in His kingdom.
So, the writer says, let us find pleasure in the temporary blessings while we have them. Let us take pleasure in all our toils. On the earth, this is God’s gift to us.
But His greatest gift is what He offers to satisfy the eternity He has put in our hearts. We will not find that on our own. We only find that in Jesus, and Jesus alone.