Ruth 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife….and she gave birth to a son.
The short book of Ruth seems the embodiment of Isaiah 61:3. From Naomi’s bitter return to Bethlehem, lamenting “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter” (Ruth 1:20) to the women’s celebration of “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer” (Ruth 4:14), we see Naomi and Ruth claiming “…beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair…” (Isaiah 61:3).
Ruth 4:14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD….For your daughter-in-law, who loves you…has given…birth.”
Perhaps the book of Ruth also helps me explain (or perhaps justify?) my hope is Isaiah 43:19: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness….” In the ashes of their broken hopes and dreams, Naomi and Ruth could not yet perceive the way forward that God was already working out. No matter what ashes you feel you are sitting in the middle of right now, know that God is already making a way for you, too.
Ruth 4:17a The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed….
Lord, Thank You for this day and this scripture. Thank You for the hope that can only come from You, a hope exemplified in the book of Ruth. Thank You that even when we can’t see beyond the grief of our shattered dreams, You are already making a way, even if we can’t yet perceive it. Draw us closer to You. Amen.
Ruth 4:17b He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Have a blessed day.
My faith, my life, my teaching–it's all a work in progress.