There are so many lessons I believe God would have us to learn from the book of Ruth. Lessons like seeing ourselves as “Ruth’s” who undeservedly are welcomed into the family of God by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Or perhaps a lesson such as the providential hand of God is always working things behind the scenes for our best good. It may not seem like it is for our good at the time, but rest assured that God always knows what is best and that he is worthy of our trust. Just ask Naomi and Ruth. I imagine that there is even a lesson to be learned about sexual purity. After all, we see the moral purity and righteousness of both Ruth and Boaz throughout the book and we see it on display in HD in 3:1-18. And there is a great lesson to be learned about racial harmony. It is in this short story that we see a pagan gentile woman is welcomed into the family and redeemed by Boaz. This happens in order to prove that God is not a racist. Although he chose to work primarily through a certain group of people in the Old Testament, stories like Ruth’s reveal that God cares for all peoples of the world. Especially since it will be all peoples worshipping him at the end of time in Revelation 5:9.
There really are too many lessons to speak of in our short time together this week. But this is what I pray for you as we finish the book of Ruth together today. I pray that you might grasp that God is sovereign and that he is working even when you don’t see him doing so in your life. I pray that you will learn to trust him and obey him. And I pray that you might walk in the integrity of your heart as you do. There’s a lot to learn in this short book. It would do you well to read through it once a day for a month. I think you would be amazed at all you learn during that time. Go ahead, take the challenge, I dare you!
-Matthew Anders
senior pastor at www.libcky.com
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