Ruth, a Story of Grace, Love and Redemption

I have always been fascinated by Ruth! There is something about her that makes her special to me. So, since my Bible study took me to the book of Ruth, I though that I should share a few of the insights on my blog.

Ruth's story is a story of God's grace in the middle of sorrow and pain. She becomes a widow at a very young age, but because she loves her mother-in-law she stays with her. When Naomi decides to return to her country, Ruth decides to go back with her, despite Naomi's plea to go back to her family. She leaves everything that was familiar to her to go to a place she has never been and join a people she is not part of and was very different from. I cannot help but wonder why did she make this choice? Why did she choose to go somewhere where she was a foreigner and intruder? It must have been something that she saw in her husband, Naomi and her family, something valuable that she wanted to have at any price, at the price of never seeing her family again. What a wonderful testimony of Naomi's faithfulness! And what a wonderful testimony of someone who wants to have Jesus at any price. What price am I willing to pay in order to have Him? How much do I value Jesus? How much do I want to have Him? I feel that many times we turn back before Naomi tells us to go back home. It might be because we have not tasted of how good He is and we have not yet seen something that we want to have at any price. Or we might be looking for the wrong things.

Ruth follows Naomi being very much aware that she might never get married again. Actually, Naomi uses this reason when trying to make her turn back. But for her having Jesus was more precious and more important than having a husband. I simply love her priorities. I am sure that she wanted to get married, but she knows what are the most important things in life and she is going to have them even at the price of some things that she would like to have. She knows what she cannot live without and she surrenders her desires. Ruth is going to have Jesus even at the price of remaining single for the rest of her life. You see, this is why I love Ruth.

There are so many lessons to learn from her life and I am definitely not going to speak about all of them. I am amazed of God led her to Boaz' field. It was not Naomi who sent her there in the first place and I know it because when she comes back Naomi wants to know where she has been. God knew exactly where to send her. Another thing that is really standing out for me is her character. When she goes to Boaz, he tells her that "all the people from my town know that you are a virtuous woman." I was curious to see if there are any more places where the Bible says about someone as being a virtuous woman and I discovered that the only place is Proverbs 31. It is obvious that she had a very good reputation and she was a woman of character. She was very loyal to her mother-in-law and she was very industrious.

I admire Ruth, but I also deeply admire Boaz. He did not attempt to take advantage of her. He did not look down on her because she was poor. He redeems her. His attitude calls for the highest praise. 

I believe that Ruth lived Matthew 6,33: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." She is one example that, when we seek for God and put Him first, He is faithful and He supplies for our physical and emotional needs. Her love story is one of the best love stories ever! Her life was not easy. She went through a lot. She suffered a lot. But she remained faithful to God and He rewarded her faithfulness.