Overview of: RUTHToday's Reading:
Ruth 3:1 – 4:22
"Boaz Marries Ruth"
Focus Verses: Ruth 4:13-17
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Insight:
Though Naomi and Ruth were without husbands and without the means to provide for themselves, they were not without hope. They found redemption through their kinsman, Boaz. He paid their debts, restored their family property in Israel, married Ruth, and gave her a son (a grandson for Naomi). This little son, Obed, would one day have a son named Jesse, who would have a son named David, who would become the great psalmist, warrior, and king of Israel.
A thousand years later, another baby named Jesus was born in the line of David. He became the kinsman-redeemer of the world. He is able to redeem us from our hopeless situation. He pays our debt, gives us a place among God's people, and makes us children of God.
Response and Action:
I will look to Jesus for redemption and restoration. My situation and needs may seem hopeless, but my Redeemer is able to save and help me. If I humble myself and ask him to cover me with his grace, he will bless me by making me his own and giving me hope for the future.
O God, thank you for sending Christ Jesus into the world to share humanity with me as a kinsman. Thank you that he is able to redeem and restore all who come to him. Thank you for making me your child, for giving me purpose, for forgiving my sin, and for freeing me from bondage to sin. Through Christ, I pray. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov. 12:3
"A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted."
New Testament for Today: 1 Peter 1:13-25
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
In Context: 1 Peter 1:13-25
Recommended Reading:
The Incomparable Christ
by John Stott
