From Rags to…

Ruth 4:13-22 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” 16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. 18 This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, 19 Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, 20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 21 Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, 22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.

Finally we come to the end of our story with Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi. And okay, these final verses may not seem all that great just by themselves, but you have to remember the context of the whole story here. Naomi and Ruth started out just having lost their husbands and children. They have no descendants, no family to belong to. They were as good as dead. Naomi’s exact words (back in chapter one): “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

When you remember all that, what we see happening in these final verses is really neat actually. Ruth and Naomi have become part of a family again. They belong to a loving, caring, and supporting group of people. They have a descendant now. And check it out! This is no ordinary descendant. This is a royal offspring. This child will be the grandfather of the King David, the greatest king in whole the history of Israel! And of course, trace that line on down even further and eventually you’ll come across the name Jesus who we’re told descended from the line of David.

So really, this is a resurrection story of sorts. No, they never actually died. But again, by ancient standards, they might as well have. They went from life that was empty, hopeless, desperate, and downright miserable to one that is now full of rich blessing, of belonging, of hope and real joy. Its new life in a very real sense.

When we started this book, one question we had to ask was: what will we learn about God from this story? Well here’s one answer: God is in the business of doing resurrections – of bringing about wonderful new life in people. Think of how our own story is a bit similar to Ruth and Naomi’s. Just think of how lost, desperate, disconnected, and hopeless we used to be because of all the messed up sin that ruled our heart and lives. But God in His mercy chose to love us! He graciously adopted us to be part of His great family. He forgave us and started to change our hearts and free us from some of that devastating sin. He gave us hope and promise of an awesome future with Him for all eternity. Or as we often say around here, He gave us new life!

And then the other thing we see in the story is how that mercy and compassion often comes through other people being used in our lives. Boaz represents a true member of God’s family or a true “Christian” we could say in that he is willing to serve as an instrument of God’s mercy. God’s mercy comes to Ruth and Naomi through Boaz’s love and compassion, his willingness to be the kinsman redeemer. So again, two things: (1) God’s plan of redemption is a beautiful story wherever it unfolds. It is one that we are always so very thankful to be a part of. And (2), being a part of that redeemed family means being a servant of God’s mercy.

I hope we’ll take those two things with us as we continue to prepare for and head out (in less than a month!) for our summer mission trips. I hope we’ll never ceased to be amazed with our great God and His miraculous and faithful love for His people. And I hope it’s always our desire to act as true adopted sons and daughters, ones willing and committed to showing God’s love and mercy to others…because of how wonderfully it has been shown to us!