Okay, ladies, there’s something we men need you to know. Ladies, the last thing we men want to hear when browsing with you through the new movie releases on Netflix is, “Here’s a good love story.”
Ohh. The pain. Watching 118 grueling minutes of a sappy romance that is so unrealistic. You watch it and think, “I can’t wait for that to happen to me.” We watch it and think, “That’ll never happen to me.” Not good for either of us.
When browsing through the Bible looking for something good to read, open up the book of Ruth. It develops the plot of a cute romance yet the real love story is not what happened to Ruth, but what—through Ruth—has happened to you.
Ruth is a foreigner from a country looked down upon in disgust by the Israelites, through whom God developed his Old Testament narrative. She becomes a widow, and seeks a new life in Israel, specifically in Bethlehem. She is poor, lonely and hungry. She goes out to gather leftover grain lying in the fields after harvesters are done.
Boaz, the owner of the field, notices her. As a successful, single business professional in Bethlehem, Boaz has no craving to settle down and raise a family, but that’s exactly what he does when his kind heart and compassionate eyes see the loneliness and need of Ruth.
Boaz marries Ruth and to everyone’s delight Ruth becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a healthy baby boy named Obed, who would grow up to have a son named Jesse. And Jesse would later have a family. The youngest of Jesse’s sons would be a shepherd boy named David—the same David who became king of Israel.
Many great-great-great-great grandchildren later another descendant of this family would be born in Bethlehem in an unlikely scenario to a poor, lonely virgin loyal to her calling from God. The child’s name would be Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah and Savior of the world.
This true story of Ruth shows how faithfully our God kept his promise of a Savior alive even through death and the desperation of a foreign, helpless widow. This is the story of God’s determined love and the creative certainty of his promise to save.
This is a story of God’s unlikely love for you. God sought you, found you, and married you while you were still living in the foreign culture of an worldview dominated by sin. Instead of sparking a relationship with someone in heaven just like him, God’s unlikely love took interest in you. The Bible says, “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ … and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13).
This is a story of God’s loyal love for you. God will never leave you or turn his back on you or forget you. At your baptism he made a promise to adopt you as his own and care for you forever. If you have turned away from him and want to come back he will be there waiting with open, inviting arms.
At the cross of his own Son, who died for your sins, God’s unlikely and loyal love for you committed to you forever. Believe that you are spiritually alive, forgiven, and that your sins can’t curse or control you. You are God’s family!
PRAYER: Dear God, you found me! And you have always loved me. I want to be closer to you, and to better believe in your desire to be closer to me. Thank you for your unlikely and loyal love. Amen.
FURTHER MEDITATION: The book of Ruth, with its 4 short chapters, is tucked away in the Old Testament of the Bible. Read it this week, and meditate on God’s work in Ruth’s life as her Savior. This is your God and Savior. How is he working in your life? For further study about the book of Ruth, watch this video: https://youtu.be/0h1eoBeR4Jk.
