Ruth 1-4
Ruth and Naomi leave Moab
The story
of Ruth is a lovely story of a lovely woman. A thousand years earlier Abraham
had been called by God to found a nation for the purpose of one day bringing a
Savior to the world. In the story of Ruth, we have the founding of a family
within that nation of which the Savior would come. Ruth was the
great-grandmother of King David.
Ruth serves
as an example of fidelity and faithfulness. The story of Ruth reminds us that
the Lord continues to guide, direct and order our days, even if we don’t always
see it. Ruth, one of Naomi’s
daughters-in-law, chose to leave her own Moabite people and return to Judah
with Naomi. She did this because she
loved and had devoted herself to Naomi. Ruth’s prospects didn’t look bright. She was very unlikely, as a foreigner, to
find a husband in Judah. She was even more unlikely to find work to support herself
and her aging mother-in-law. But as it
turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz. Only God could have arranged all this. It ‘just so happened’ that Ruth had the
opportunity to glean the fields (pick up leftover grain). God had arranged this long before. God had
given certain laws to Israel that required landowners to allow the poor to
glean their fields. (See Leviticus
23:22.) Because God crossed the paths of
Ruth and Boaz at just the right time, Ruth was given a hope and a future.
Ruth’s life
story reminds us that the Lord continues to watch over us and directs our life.
We might not always understand where we are going but He is the one who has
promised to give direction in the way we should go.
Lord God,
You have called Your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by
paths as yet untreodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with
good courage, not knowing where we go but only that Your hand is leading us and
Your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Schnorr
von Carolsfeld Woodcut used with permission © WELS
Halley’s
Bible Handbook An Abbreviated Bible Commentary Twenty-Third Edition, © 1962
Zondervan Grand Rapids
Collect for guidance in
our calling, Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
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