The Ruth Saga Continues- Can you Imagine?

Well, I promised five days with Ruth. Well, forget that. The saga continues- that little book keeps yielding powerful lessons. Two weekends ago, I went to what I assumed would be a simple party to celebrate a friend's daughter's 16th birthday. Instead, it was a four-hour celebration of God's provision in the family's life. You see my friend and her daughter almost died during labor. The doctor who saved both of their lives flew in from Miami to see the living miracle in which he had participated so many years ago. In the interim time, pain had come into his own life. He had lost his own daughter. At the end of the service, my friend's daughter made this declaration: "Dr. C., you have not lost a daughter. You have gained me."

I felt that these words were remarkably mature for a 16 year-old girl.  She laid down her own wants. She was saying to the doctor, "in your old age, I commit to care for you and stand beside you and your wife."  Remarkable! She was ostensibly saying what Ruth had said when she handed Obed into Naomi's arms to care for as her own. This unconditional love struck a chord of Ruth in me, and I told her how impressed I was with her maturity and true devotion. She then told me something that almost brought me to my knees. My knees buckled as she related the deceased daughter's name: Ruth. Would this book  ever stop teaching me? Its impact far greater than its small dimensions.

When most people read Ruth, they look at  Boaz as the Christ-figure. But, God showed me that Ruth is the true Christ-figure because she laid down her life. Ruth walked Naomi through her transition from pleasant to bitter back to pleasant; I am in such a season now. I assure you that it is not easy. Ruth, as I have said, had her own reasons to be bitter: she was a widow and had no children from her marriage.  But she put down her own grief and walked with Naomi through her pain. Yet, she did not absorb the arrows and barbs that Naomi through her away.  Ruth did not absorb Naomi's toxicity. Can you imagine being hurt and bruised and living with a disgruntled and selfish person? Waiting and worrying; waiting, but disengaged; waiting and hopeful :those are our choices. In order to stay encouraged, we must stay engaged. Wow! Not only, thriving, but growing in your faith, and walking with God, gaining favor with man. Ruth, did it. So can  you and I.

Ruth's sacrificial love looks so like Christ's. She walked a foreign land. In the same way, Christ walked this earth- an alien world. She became a servant, doing the humble task like Christ. She loved Naomi back to her original purpose. In the same way, Christ loves us back to our original position as children of the Most High. She became the least so that Naomi could receive her covenant rights. She lies at Boaz's feet so that Naomi's rights are restored with her husband's portion. She helps reconnect Naomi to the God of her Father's. She brings hope not only to Naomi but to the community and joy to her husband who must have felt like a dried up plant. She had so many reasons to be disappointed, but she moved past that to embrace her future. Fear and faith; fear and love; fear and hope- are hard to do. But, sometimes, we must cry out like the man who wanted to be healed so badly: "Lord, I believe; help thou, my unbelief" (Mark 9: 24).

A friend of mine told me it's time to put my Ruth shoes back on again. The truth is that I don't think I have ever taken them off. Today, I celebrate the beginning of another year, not just numerical, but spiritual.



Signing off,
M.J.