A Harvest Love Story Ruth
Have you ever wondered why this tale of Ruth is there in the Bible?
It is the one single book where a woman seems to be at the centre – and she isn’t even a Jew! She becomes a young, childless, Moabite widow almost as soon as the story opens.
But, as with the rest of the Bible, this book is primarily about God.
From beginning to end, the Bible is much more about God than people. Ruth has a walk-on part in the tale, and a significant one at that, for her name comes up again in the New Testament. She is written into the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5) because she was the Great-Grandma of King David.
God’s long plan was working out through Ruth’s life.
V 13. the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.
What a dreadful feeling to experience! Just about everything had gone wrong in life for Naomi. She became an economic migrant when Israel went through a period of bad harvests and food shortages; then her husband died leaving her a widow in a foreign country; finally, both her sons died, so there was no male in the family to support her. There was nobody left to blame except God – the Lord’s got it in for me she must have thought.
That’s a horrible place to be. Just maybe you have had a similar feeling – what else can go wrong now you thought, obviously God doesn’t care for me any longer. The only bright speck on the horizon for Naomi was the news that Israel had picked up and there was a harvest there again. So she retraced her steps to the old village of Bethlehem, hoping perhaps to find a home and shelter there once again. She had expected to travel alone, but Ruth stuck by her. Naomi must have spoken to her daughters-in-law about the old home, the people, and the God they worshipped. Ruth’s commitment to stand by Naomi, was expressed like this: ‘Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. ‘
Is there a valuable lesson here? When life seems to take a bad turn and you feel God has got it in for you, go back to God’s people, the ones you knew and trusted, and pick up again with them – and with God.