Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore

• Ruth was the daughter in law of Elimelech and Naomi.
• She was a Moabite and lost her husband. She later married Boaz, kinsman redeemer of Naomi’s family. Ruth and Boaz had a child named Obed.
• From the line of Ruth, our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world.
• Story of Ruth shows how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things

Lessons from the life of Ruth

1. Ruth’s Selfless desire to care for her mother-in-law Naomi

Ruth was faithful to her mother-in-law, despite their hopeless situation.  She knew she may not have a future if she remains with Naomi; she may never get married again, may end up dying as a widow, with no generation, yet she chose it. Despiteall this, she took the initiative to take care of her mother-in-law.She was willing to sacrifice her life to be support Naomi in her desperate condition.

2. Ruth’s Commitment

Ruth’s commitment to Naomi is exemplary. Just to highlight her commitment in 3 angles – Firstly,she left her own parents, people, nation, land, to stay with Naomi. Secondly, she did this knowing well she may not have a future for herself with this old woman, may never get a chance to marry again, and end up staying a widow all her life.   She was selfless about her own life. Thirdly, and the most beautifully, her commitmentis expressed in her words “Your God will be my God.”  Naomi had just said “The hand of the Lord has gone forth against me”. Naomi’s spoke about her God in bitterness. But despite this, Ruth forsakes her religion and makes the God of Israel as her God.

3. Ruth’sHumility

Being humble is a very difficult thing when everything is going wrong in your life. But we see Ruth so humble even in the midst all terrible trials. She humbly took care of her mother-in-law even though she had become a bitter person.   It is difficult to be humble with bitter people as they keep grumbling andcomplaining, and test our patience!  WeRuth noble humility and hard work in Boaz field where she goes to work and glean the grain. In chapter 2:7, she says, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ She starts her conversation by sayingplease, in NKJV it says I pray. She humbly makes a request, and she isn’t demanding. End of verse 7, I will gather after the reapers among the sheaves, it simply means she will take the leftovers.  Even Boaz was impressed with her humility when he had conversation with her. 

4. Ruth’s Hard work

She is an amazing worker. In verse 7 workers who observed her state, “She has continued from early morning until now without resting even for a moment.”  Then verse 17 goes on to say that she gleaned until evening and then before she quit, she beat out what she gleaned, measured it, and took it home to Naomi. This shows how hardworking she was.

5. Ruth’s gift

We see the Lord rewarding Ruth several gifts for her faith on him. First gift is Naomi – a mother in a mother-in-law.  Second,God of Israel becoming her God through Naomi which is the best gift.   Third – Boaz the protector and kinsman redeemer of her life.  Fourth – Obed a blessed child from whose line came the Savior for this world.  When we lay our trust and hope in the Sovereign lord and his providence,he blesses us with amazing gifts in his due time.

Application

1. When we read this amazing book, we feel that we must learn many things from the characters mentioned in this book be it Naomi, Ruth or even Boaz. Especially from the life of Ruth, we can clearly see that she was a woman of character and ideal women with godly attributes.   These traits of Ruth impresses us as we read the book of Ruth.  Do people feel that way when they seeour life? We need to examine and compare our character with Ruth and learn, correct the areas where we are lacking.
2.  There are a lot of things which makes us admire Ruth, but the one which attracts the most isher initiative and commitment. Yes, when everything goes wrong in life, it is natural to think about our selffirst, but Ruth was selfless and took initiative to take care of old Naomi.  She knew Naomi has no one left and she cared for her. We need to learn this lesson however good or bad a person is, commitment strengthens our relationship. We must learn to show that immense commitment to God and his people in our life.
3. Ruth’s hard work is the next important thing. These days people feel that they must get everything at the wink of their eyes without any labour.  Without hard work we will not get any good results. When we give our best, God will take care of the rest.
4. Trust in the Sovereign God and His Providence and he will bless us with his good gifts in his due time.
5. We can’t skip Ruth’s Humility. We see her humbleness in every walk of our life. God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble. That’s what he did to Ruth.
6. We are also ordinary people like Ruth, and we believe God will work extraordinary things through uswhen we truly commit to him, lay our trust and faith in him, and show the wonderful traits of Ruth throughour life to others.