The Story of Ruth

The story of Ruth is one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read. It starts out sad because all of the women have lost their husbands due to death. It was in the days when the judges ruled, and there was a famine in the land. Elimelech was Naomi’s husband, his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. They took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

After they lost their husbands, Naomi told her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. To make a long story short, Orpah left, and Ruth stayed with Naomi. She loved Naomi. She went with her. Naomi wanted them to leave because she had no more sons, no husband to have anymore sons, and if she could have more sons, would they wait until they were grown enough to marry, I EXPECT NOT, because if they did, by the time they were old enough to marry, her daughters-in-laws would be too old to marry them anyway. She wanted them to go and have a life of their own, to start over, to have their own families, to marry again. I can totally understand why she wanted them to leave. Yes, she loved them, but she loved them enough to let them go. They were sad and in tears; it was a bittersweet moment. Ruth clave unto her. Naomi told Ruth ,”Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister-in-law”. Ruth said to Naomi, “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Ruth loved Naomi as if she gave birth to her herself. She made it plain and clear that she was not leaving Naomi, so Naomi stopped asking her to leave, they left where they were and went to Bethlehem. When they arrived to Bethlehem, all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

They all were surprised to see her. Naomi told them not to call her by her name, but to call her Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with her. She told them that she went out full, and the Lord hath brought her home again empty: so why call her Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against her, and the Almighty hath afflicted her? She wanted to be called what she was feeling, and what she was going through. We are not identified by what we are going through, but we are who God say that we are, and it is a blessing that we do not look like what we have been through.

Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest. Sometimes we go through things that we have no control of, and we see the bad in all of it, but instead of looking at all of the bad in things, we must look at the good as well. Things happen for a reason because God has already had things planned that way. We may not understand everything that is going on, but God will take our situations that we are going through and turn it around and use it for our good. There is a lesson in all that we go through. The lesson is that God sent His Son into the world to redeem us of our sins and ourselves. Just as Naomi ,and Ruth were going through what they were going through, God turned it around for their good. He already had planned who the kinsman redeemer was going to be to Marry Ruth, and that Naomi would have someone to take care of her in her old age. See, God has a plan for all of our lives, we just have to ask Him what that plan is, and He will show us.

Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. Boaz took on the responsibility as the kinsman redeemer. Just like Jesus is our kinsman redeemer, we are joint heirs with Jesus, so what is His is ours, and what is ours is His, but in actuality, everything is His already. Boaz was a good man. He made sure that Ruth was taken care of when she was in the fields gleaning, he made sure she was protected while she was in the field gleaning, he made sure she had all that she needed. She only was to work in his field with his hired hands, and his maidens. He told them what to do for her and they made sure they obeyed him. She did just as he said as well. We are to obey God. He is our Father; He created us. We are to show Him respect just as we show those respect that we work for.

In the last chapter of Ruth, verse fifteen, ,”And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life , and, a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.(16)

(17)And the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

As this chapter ends this book, it gives the generations that leads to King David’s birth. I have read this love story more times than I can count. I see something different in it every time I read it. It makes me think about where God has brought me from in my life. It makes me think about when I met the love of my life. What is it that you see in this beautiful love story? How does it make you look at the things that you have gone through in your life? We have all gone through tragedy at some point, but God was there to deliver us through it all. He redeemed us when Jesus shed His blood for us on the cross. Those were our nails of sin, that was our crown of shame that was placed upon His head. Those were our stripes that He took for us all night long. He took the punishment that we deserved. We may have not been there in person when all of that was going on, but all of our mistakes, tears, heartaches, heartbreaks, disappointments, and all of everything that would ever go wrong in our lives was on Him!! We complain about all of he things that we go through, but it is nothing compared to what Jesus went through for us that we may be free. It was His sacrifice that set us free. It was His blood that washed us clean. He laid down His life for us, so what gives us the right to complain and grumble about anything that is going on. We should count it all joy when we go through things, because Jesus paid it all. He paid the ultimate price that we will never be able to repay, not in this life, or in our eternal lives with Him. We all need to take inventory of our lives and examine ourselves before we start to complain about things that we have no control of. He is in control of everything in this whole universe; every living thing, and every blade of grass; animals and all. So the next time we start to complain, we should think about Jesus our Lord and Savior.

May God bless and keep you in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Amen.