March 14, 2025 - Ruth 1-4

I know I have written it before but I will do it, again:  I love the story of Ruth and Boaz.  It’s a story of God’s care and provision.  It’s a story of one man who, when family refuses to do what is right, steps up in obedience to God’s instructions.  It’s a story beginning with hopelessness and ending with blessings untold.  Of course, it’s a picture of God’s grace and mercy, not only to Ruth, but to us.  The God we see at work restoring Ruth’s hope in this little story is the God whom we see sending his Son into the world to restore us.  Perhaps the most powerful words uttered in the story are those of Ruth when she speaks to Boaz in the field:  “Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’” (2:10).  “Me?  A foreigner?  Me?  A nobody?  You have your pick of all the women in the land, and you pick me?  You notice me and favor me?”  Isn’t that our response to the Savior?  “Me?  An enemy of God?  Me?  Chiefest of sinners?  You could choose anyone you wish, and you chose me?”  What love!  What mercy!

Plenteous grace with thee is found,

grace to cover all my sin;

let the healing streams abound;

make and keep me pure within.

Thou of life the fountain art;

freely let me take of thee;

spring thou up within my heart,

rise to all eternity.   -- Charles Wesley (1740)