December 18, 2023 - Ruth 1:1-7

Well, we have reached Revelation 22.  What now?  The Bible is distinct from other religious documents in that it is historical narrative.  Even the poetry and wisdom sections, along with the NT letters, are easily placed within the narrative.  One of my favorite stories – and, I suspect, that of many of us – is the story of Ruth.  I think I will spend the last days of 2023 reflecting on this beautiful love story that displays, also, God’s gracious love.

We know the story well.  An Israelite, Elimelech, and his wife, Naomi, had two sons.  Elimelech died leaving Naomi a widow and their sons without a father.  Now, they had moved to Moab where the sons, Mahlon and Chilion, married non-Jewish women from Moab, Orpah and Ruth.  When the sons died, Naomi and her daughters-in-law moved to Judah because she had heard that the Lord had provided abundant food there.

Naomi had spent ten years, without her husband, trying to survive in Moab.  She tried everything she knew to do in order to provide for herself and her sons, even marrying them to Moabite women.  When the sons died there was then left three widows:  Naomi, Orpah, and Ruth.  In that culture and era, widows were especially vulnerable and often without any means of support.  But “the Lord!” (1:6)  Just this thought.  So often, when we have labored hard and done all we know to do, there is the Lord.  Naomi “had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food” (1:6).  And so, Naomi looked to the Lord and found his provision to be all she needed.  How faithful is our God to give to his own that which we need!  Wow, it’s been a long time since I have sung B. B. McKinney’s old hymn:

Have faith in God though all else fail about you;

Have faith in God, He provides for His own;

He cannot fail though all kingdoms shall perish,

He rules, He reigns upon His throne.

Have faith in God, He’s on His throne;

Have faith in God, He watches o’er His own;

He cannot fail, He must prevail;

Have faith in God, have faith in God.  –B. B. McKinney (1934)