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Ruth. Quite a lady! Only one other biblical book is named after a woman. David, the pre-eminent King of Israel, was her great grandson (Ruth 4:13-22). Several more generations later, another of her descendants was this well-known character we call Jesus (Matthew 1:1,5). She played a key role in our redemption history, and her life gives us a lesson on how God nudges events in our lives for a good goal.
But she began life as a despised non-Jew. A man from Bethlehem faced a famine, so he took his wife Naomi and their two sons to Moab to survive. Well, both sons met and married local girls, one named Ruth. Something a Jew really shouldn’t have done. Then, Naomi’s husband died, and next both sons. So Ruth, a foreigner, lost her husband, father-in-law, and brother-in-law.
Naomi decided to return to her home and family in Bethlehem, and Ruth tagged along. Naomi felt the Lord “raised his fist against me” (1:13), and changed her name to “Bitter” (1:20). A tough story so far. Back in Bethlehem, Ruth went out to glean the barley fields, she followed the harvesters and picked up loose grain for them. Hard physical labor. But to shorten the story, the owner of the field, Boaz, noticed and helped her, they get attracted to each other, but they can’t marry because under Jewish law, a closer relative exists (yeah, they’re cousins). More obstacles.
But Boaz, the canny businessman, crafted a strategy to resolve that problem, they married, had a son who became the grandfather of David, and so on. So Ruth ended up marrying a prosperous farmer, and provided a link for David and Jesus. Wow! Quite an end after a difficult beginning, which yields our lesson.
The story has no miracles. No prophecies of future well-being. No commands to get up and move. Just a lot of problems and what seems to be a series of coincidences, beginning with a famine in Bethlehem and ending with Jesus being born in that town. But maybe we should use a different term. Nudges. Seemingly minor and unusually unnoticed nudges from God in the lives of people to accomplish his good plan. I doubt that any of the characters would have identified these nudges as being done by God, but looking back, they seem pretty clear, don’t they?
Part of God’s design to show his love for all people, including foreigners. Including women. Redemption. For all. All of which began with problems compounding.
Our lesson has several points. First, let’s trust that God loves us and works in all things for good (Romans 8:28, an increasingly cherished passage to me). We may not see it. Ruth had a rough beginning and a fine end. Maybe we need to resist the temptation to become bitter, as did Naomi, when she couldn’t see the nudges.
Second, to build that trust in him, look back at some of the apparently “random” coincidences that resulted in major positive results in your life. Ones that at the time you had no clue God gently nudged your life.
Kick Starting the Application
From your work on identifying those divine nudges, what have you learned? What does this tell you about God and his love and involvement? How will it change you?