Written by: John Marshall
Ruth 1 v 1-5
Long ago when the judges ruled Israel, there was a shortage of food in
the land. So a man named Elimelech left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to live
in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons. His wife was named Naomi,
and his two sons were named Mahlon and Kilion. They were from the Ephrathah
district from Bethlehem in Judah. When they came to Moab, they settled there.
Then Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died, and she was left with her two sons. These
sons married women from Moab. One was named Orpah and the other was named Ruth.
Naomi and her sons had lived in Moab about ten years when Mahlon and Kilion
also died. So Naomi was left alone without her husband or her two sons.
Notes
The interviewer’s question was simple: “What do you want to be when you grow
up?” The little girl with big eyes answered in one word: “Famous.” It didn’t
seem to matter how that fame was achieved – she just wanted celebrity status!
TV and magazines suggest that only the famous are newsworthy. They are the people we should imitate, because they’re the only ones who live interesting lives.
It’s not that way with God. Here at the beginning of the story of Ruth there’s an ordinary family - not a prophet, priest, king, singer, footballer or movie star in sight. Ordinary people facing everyday issues; issues such as not having enough to go round, moving house, bereavement, marriage, disappointment, loneliness - all the ups and downs we come to expect from life.
What is extra-ordinary is that the God of the nations is interested in them - personally. Woven all through this story from the Book of Ruth is the fact that God is active in ordinary family life. These people, who start off as just another family, discover his love and care. In all the humdrum of life, as well as the rollercoaster bits, he’s there wanting the best for them.
This means that we can expect to see God in action in our family life too, whoever is in our family… even in the most unspectacular bits of life … when this week seems the same as last week (again).
To God, we have celebrity status.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that you are interested in me. Help me to understand your love
for me even more. Amen
Ruth 1 v 6-10
While Naomi was in Moab, she heard that the LORD had come to help his
people and had given them food again. So she and her daughters-in-law got ready
to leave Moab and return home. Naomi and her daughters-in-law left the place
where they had lived and started back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to
her two daughters-in-law, “Go back home, each of you to your own mother’s house.
May the LORD be as kind to you as you have been to me and my sons who are now
dead. May the LORD give you another happy home and a new husband.”
When Naomi kissed the women goodbye, they began to cry out loud. They said to
her, “No, we want to go with you to your people.”
Notes
Situations in life change. Years after moving, Naomi heard that things had got
better back at home. The famine was over. Perhaps the rains had come and there
was a harvest. Whatever, things were on the up and she wanted to return to Judah.
Her only family in Moab were her two daughters-in-law. Both their husbands had died. In Naomi’s opinion their best option was for them to leave her and go back to their home towns. They would have more chance of finding new husbands and settling down into a new life. That was her specific prayer for them.
Specific prayer should carry a health warning from God! He tends to use you (the person doing the praying) as part of the answer.
Naomi prayed that her daughters-in law would have a positive experience of God’s kindness and his generosity, his security and his provision. Great prayer. One question remains: Where had they already had these God-experiences of life? Simple answer: When they’d been in Naomi’s company. She’d put flesh-and-bones on this God. Naomi was part of the answer to her own prayer!
Her daughters-in-law recognised this. They said: “We’re coming with you.” They were not turning their backs on Naomi or her God that easily!
One of the adventures of faith is specific prayer. Recognise the danger, though. In a changing world we will be the ones to represent the reliability of God.
Prayer
Lord, I want to be the answer to someone’s prayer. Help me show your kindness
and generosity to someone I know today. Amen
Ruth 1 v 11-15
But Naomi said, “My daughters, return to your own homes. Why do you want to
go with me? I cannot give birth to more sons to give you new husbands; go back,
my daughters, to your own homes. I am too old to have another husband. Even
if I told myself, ‘I still have hope’ and had another husband tonight, and even
if I had more sons, should you wait until they were grown into men? Should you
live for so many years without husbands? Don’t do that, my daughters. My life
is much too sad for you to share, because the LORD has been against me!”
The women cried together out loud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law
Naomi goodbye, but Ruth held on to her tightly.
Naomi said to Ruth, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her own people
and her own gods. Go back with her.”
Notes
To make sense of the story from the Book of Ruth we have to remember that the
world 3,000 years ago had a very different attitude to women. A wife was owned
by her husband and if she died she became one of his possessions to be passed
to his heir. The only hope was remarriage.
Widow Naomi tried to send her daughters-in-law back to their homes. She commented that her life was “much too sad” for them to share. (They too were widows.) She thought she knew who to blame for her situation. “The Lord has been against me,” she concluded.
All families go through difficult times – times when tears are the most eloquent way to express the pain. Mixed in with the loneliness of bereavement, Naomi felt abandoned, helpless, without hope and in despair. She concluded that God must be her enemy. When we get to that place (and we all will at some time), we’re not the first people to feel that way.
Naomi let her feelings be known to God. In her honesty there was no pretending. At the same time there was no anger.
“But Ruth held on to her (Naomi) tightly.” It was from Naomi that Ruth learnt about the faithfulness of God. Naomi had modelled it for her. Now the roles were completely reversed. Naomi drew strength from Ruth.
Those people who support us are perhaps the very people who need our support today.
Prayer
Lord, thank you for all the people you have brought into my life to be a support
to me. Will you show me how I can also be a support to them? Amen
Ruth 1 v 16-22
But Ruth said, “Don’t beg me to leave you or to stop following you. Where you
go, I will go. Where you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and
your God will be my God. And where you die, I will die, and there I will be
buried. I ask the LORD to punish me terribly if I do not keep this promise:
not even death will separate us.”
When Naomi saw that Ruth had firmly made up her mind to go with her, she stopped
arguing with her. So Naomi and Ruth went on until they came to the town of Bethlehem.
When they entered Bethlehem, all the people became very excited. The women of
the town said, “Is this really Naomi?”
Naomi answered the people, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara, because the Almighty
has made my life very sad. When I left, I had all I wanted, but now, the LORD
has brought me home with nothing. Why should you call me Naomi when the LORD
has spoken against me and the Almighty has given me so much trouble?”
So Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabite, returned from Moab and arrived
at Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
Notes
I’ve just become a granddad for the first time. One of the big discussions was
what to call the baby. (In this case my daughter and son-in-law chose Daniel.)
In the time of our story, names were chosen because of their meaning. Naomi means pleasant, lovely, even delightful. Her name tells us what type of person she was. But life had been hard. She would have preferred the name Mara, which means bitter. It sums up how angry she was with life in general and God in particular. So much had gone wrong.
The Bible uses many names for God, and each is translated into English differently. At one point in today’s reading the word Almighty is used. The Hebrew is El Shaddai. It has a very specific meaning. It means that God is like a mountain - solid and durable. He can be trusted to bring protection at times of uncertainty; he can meet our feelings of helplessness and bless us; however much we harass him, he will be faithful.
The best way to deal with our bitterness is to leave it with God. He can cope with the pain and the uncertainty. We can only cope as we pass it to him.
Imagine you have been given a piece of tapestry. Look at the back. The threads look tangled. There are loads of knots. Loose ends hang out from the fabric. None of it makes sense. It’s as jumbled as Naomi’s life. Now turn it over and look at the other side. There embroidered beautifully are the words, “God loves you.”
It may take loads of faith, but God’s perspective on life needs to be sought and trusted by each one of us each day. I think I’ll make that my daily prayer for my grandson Daniel.
Prayer
Lord, I admit that I am too close to my own situation. Help me each day to get
your perspective on issues that are affecting me. Amen
Ruth 2 v 1-7
Now Naomi had a rich relative named Boaz, from Elimelech’s family.
One day Ruth, the Moabite, said to Naomi, “I am going to the fields. Maybe someone
will be kind enough to let me gather the grain he leaves behind.”
Naomi said, “Go, my daughter.”
So Ruth went to the fields and gathered the grain that the workers cutting the
grain had left behind. It just so happened that the field belonged to Boaz,
from Elimelech’s family.
Soon Boaz came from Bethlehem and greeted his workers, “The LORD be with you!”
And the workers answered, “May the LORD bless you!”
Then Boaz asked his servant in charge of the workers, “Whose girl is that?”
The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who came back with Naomi
from the country of Moab. She said, ‘Please let me follow the workers cutting
grain and gather what they leave behind.’ She came and has remained here, from
morning until just now. She has stopped only a few moments to rest in the shelter.”
Notes
This guy Boaz was going to become very important to Ruth. In fact, I don’t think
it ruins the end of the story to say that there would be wedding bells. But
today we see that he was the owner of some land.
His field just happened to be the one that Ruth went into to get some food. As the harvesters cut down the grain, the law required that some was left for the poorer families to gather and use. Why Ruth chose that field we shall never know, but it proved to be a great choice.
It just happened that Boaz came along while Ruth was there. It just happened that Boaz noticed her and asked who she was.
Now it could all be put down to coincidence, but I prefer the word God-incidence. Both Ruth’s and Boaz’s decisions fitted God’s plans. I know of one person whose daily deliberate morning prayer is that today she will fit God’s plans – in everything she does, with everyone she meets, and in every word she speaks.
It’s summed up in the unusual way that Boaz greets his workers: “The Lord be with you!” Their response to him was much the same: “May the Lord bless you!”
Even in our everyday work we can be part of God-incidences. Watch out for them today. It can turn work into a blessing!
Prayer
Lord, as we make decisions today, may we know the paradox that you are in control.
Amen
Ruth 2 v 8-13
Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go to gather grain
for yourself in another field. Don’t even leave this field at all, but continue
following closely behind my women workers. Watch to see into which fields they
go to cut grain and follow them. I have warned the young men not to bother you.
When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the water jugs that the young
men have filled.”
Then Ruth bowed low with her face to the ground and said to him, “I am not an
Israelite. Why have you been so kind to notice me?”
Boaz answered her, “I know about all the help you have given your mother-in-law
after your husband died. You left your father and mother and your own country
to come to a nation where you did not know anyone. May the LORD reward you for
all you have done. May your wages be paid in full by the LORD, the God of Israel,
under whose wings you have come for shelter.”
Then Ruth said, “I hope I can continue to please you, sir. You have said kind
and encouraging words to me, your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”
Notes
Man sees woman … their eyes meet … man talks to woman. Even if you are tempted,
don’t romanticise too soon.
Ruth was an isolated widow in a foreign land. She was hungry, anxious and vulnerable. Her future was uncertain. With no protection she was in danger.
Boaz was so impressed by all that Ruth had done for her mother-in-law that he prayed for her: “May the Lord reward you for all you have done.” It carries the sense of: “May the Lord make you complete again.”
Jesus spoke about Christians being complete in him. That doesn’t mean that when we say “Yes” to Christ we’ve made it in life.
Imagine the liner Queen Mary II setting off from Southampton. On board it has thousands of passengers and crew. The journey has yet to be made, but the ship has all the food, fuel and other provisions for the cruise. On leaving harbour it has a full complement. The ship is complete. But it still has to make the journey and face the worst that the Atlantic Ocean can throw at it before it arrives in the Caribbean.
When we accept Christ’s direction in life, his Holy Spirit gives us all we need to face life … but we still have to make the journey. That’s completeness on God’s terms. There will still be times when the going is rough, but we’re guaranteed to arrive at our destination.
Prayer
Lord, will you help and guide me in today’s part of my lifelong journey
with you. Amen
Ruth 2 v 14-18
At mealtime Boaz told Ruth, “Come here. Eat some of our bread and dip it in
our vinegar.”
So Ruth sat down beside the workers. Boaz handed her some roasted grain, and
she ate until she was full; she even had some food left over. When Ruth rose
and went back to work, Boaz commanded his workers, “Let her gather even around
the piles of cut grain. Don’t tell her to go away. In fact, drop some full heads
of grain for her from what you have in your hands, and let her gather them.
Don’t tell her to stop.”
So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. Then she separated the grain
from the chaff, and there was about 10 kilogrammes of barley. Ruth carried the
grain into town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also
took out the food that was left over from lunch and gave it to Naomi.
Notes
We sang an old hymn at our New Year service in church this year: “God is working
his purpose out as year succeeds to year…”
It was great to be reminded that there is a bigger picture to life than just what is happening in me. God has a plan, and even my little world is a vital piece in his jigsaw. If we lose that God-view we will begin to wonder why we’re here and what it’s all about. Our lives have real value because God is using them to work out part of his blueprint for the world.
Ruth and Boaz begin to get to know each other. A relationship formed. It was going to be very significant, long-term, in God’s economy. Ruth and Boaz were to be the great-grandparents of King David. They didn’t know that. All they knew was they fancied each other!
From the family of King David, many, many generations later would come Jesus Christ. It was all in God’s plan … but as far as Boaz was concerned, all he was doing that day was to share his sandwiches with a woman who was beginning to impress him.
Today, God wants to work through us in ways that will have an eternal significance. Now, that is value-added living.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that the events of my life form part of your bigger plan for
the world. Help me to bring honour to you today. Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken
from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993
by Word Publishing Milton Keynes