Archive for December 26th, 2007
Ruth
A love story full of sadness and despair that ends with faithfulness with a manly twist and deep river of gracious blessing from God’s people and the LORD himself — that’s how I would characterize the incredible story of Ruth. So many biblical themes percolate in this story — care for the poor, the widow, and the foreigner, God’s faithfulness, the faithfulness of a foreigner, the faithfulness of a godly man, the love between a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law, the way God’s Law provided blessing for the disadvantaged, and how God kept his promise to use his people to be a blessing and how he used that blessing to keep his promise to his people.
Ruth’s loyalty is rewarded by God and Boaz. Boaz’s loyalty was rewarded by God and his choice of a lineage for the King. We are reminded, in the course of this story, of God’s great love for all peoples and his desire to bring them to himself.
//Inspiration: Ruth 2:12
[Boaz said to Ruth] 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 for refuge.
//Incarnation: My take on the reading for me
I can’t help but notice all the “blessing” that goes on in such short book. Even in the middle of deep bitterness for her loss, Naomi can find a heart to bless her daughter-in-laws and look out for their best interests. This giving a blessing becomes the background music for this whole story. This is a story of God’s faithfulness to bring about His blessing. But the greatest blessing of all was to be an outsider — a foreign widow — who was brought into the covenant family of the Lord. Ruth was brought into the family and then made the great grandmother of King David and in the lineage of the Messiah, Jesus the Lord. This short book is a reminder that I’ve got to find ways to help those who are widows and orphans and poor find their way into the grace of God’s wings of protection. Maybe this is where the trip to Africa fits in.
//Invitation: My Prayer Today
O LORD God, please bless the Malagassy students who are so close to completing their journey through school and who still need my support and encouragement. Thank you for Dale and Joyce who have offered them so much. Use me in some way to make a difference now, here, for them. I also pray that you will help me do the work you want me to do in my upcoming trip to Uganda. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.