Read Ruth 4:11-22 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the…
Lessons From Ruth, Part VII
“Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, ‘Come over here, my friend and sit down.’ So he went over and sat down.” Ruth 4:1 Read Ruth 4:1-10 4 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just…
Lessons from Ruth, Part VI
“For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.” Ruth 3:18b Read Ruth 3:14-18 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl…
Lessons from Ruth, Part V
“This kindness is greater than that which you have shown earlier: You have not run after the younger men, rich or poor.” Ruth 3:10b Read Ruth 3:10-13 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or…
Lessons from Ruth, Part IV
“Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.” Ruth 3:2 Read Ruth 3:1-9 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now…
Lessons from Ruth, Part III
“May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2:12 Read Ruth 2: Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose…
Lessons from Ruth, Part II
“So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.” Ruth 1:22 Read Ruth 1:20. “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almightyhas made my life very bitter. Naomi’s anguish was so great, she wanted to change her name. …
Lessons from Ruth, Part I
“When she heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law had prepared to return home from there.” Ruth 1:6 Read Ruth 1:3-15 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women,…
Forgiveness, Part II
“Restore to me the joy of my salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:12 Hurts can sometimes overpower us. Instead of giving them center stage in our minds, we need to focus on Christ. As Psalm 51:12 states, allow your joy over who Jesus is and what He’s done overtake…
Forgiveness, Part I
“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts, you teach wisdom in the inmost place.” Psalm 51:6 You’ve been hurt. But, you’re polite as a good Christian should be. You smile and speak kind words, all the while your heart is seething with unspoken anger. As the psalmist wrote, “surely you desire truth in the inner…