The Faith of Ruth

December 3, 2023 Background Scripture: Ruth 1; 4:13 - 22 Lesson Passage: Ruth 1:6 - 18, 22 The story of Ruth takes place during the time of the judges of Israel. During that time, the people of God had abandoned the Law of Moses as the nation's standard. Every man did what was right in his own eyes. The people of God kept declining, spiritually, morally, and socially. Because of their decline, God punished them and then raised up a judge to deliver them from that punishment. This cycle kept repeating because they were not living as people of faith. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews describes faith as giving substance to that we live in hope of, and being itself the assurance, or evidence, of the yet unseen reality. With faith, we know what we know without being able to provide any concrete proof of it. However, because of our faith, we respond based on the reality of what we expect to experience. Faith creates within us what logic cannot explain. Therefore, when we observe the actions of a person of faith, we should expect their actions to be illogical. As we consider the Background Scripture, there is no logical explanation for Ruth's actions. Ruth married into a family that would have appeared to be cursed by the God they worshipped. A Jewish family (a man, his wife Naomi, and their two sons) left Bethlehem to escape a famine. They went to the land of Moab. The man died in Moab, and his wife and two sons survived him. The two sons married Moabite women. Then both sons died. After about ten years in Moab, Naomi heard that the famine in Bethlehem was over. She left Bethlehem with her husband and two sons. Ten years later, she was returning to Bethlehem as a widow with no offspring. Her two daughters-in-law were leaving Moab with her. She advised them to return to their families in Moab and to remarry. She pronounced a blessing from the Lord upon them and their future marriages. They insisted on wanting to go with her, but she told them that the Lord's hand was against her. She was returning home as a beggar. She could not provide for herself or for them. They were young enough to return home and remarry. One daughter-in-law kissed her goodbye, but the other, Ruth, refused to leave. Naomi insisted that Ruth follow the example of her sister-in-law and return home. That's when Ruth made a statement of faith in the God of Israel. Ruth embraced the God that her mother-in-law said was against her. Ruth declared that He would be her God. Then Ruth placed her fate in God's hand if she failed to remain faithful to Naomi until death separated them. If the God Naomi worshipped had turned against her as she said, why would Ruth want to worship Him and put her fate in His hand? Ruth had a faith within her that drew her to the invisible God of her mother-in-law. Ruth surrendered to the God of Israel. There is much room for speculation concerning this. Did Naomi teach them about the living God of Israel during those ten years in Moab? Did she assure them that God would take care of Israel despite the famine? Did they learn these things from their husbands before they died? Or did Naomi live a life of faith around them for those ten years? Again, there is much room for speculation concerning the development of Ruth's faith. We don't know how Ruth's faith was developed but we do know the source of her faith. The word of God declares that God has given every person a measure of faith. God has made it possible for every person to please Him; because we cannot please God without faith. Ruth allowed the faith of God within her to be developed into a living faith. And through her faith, Ruth was saved and blessed of God. God placed Ruth in the family line His only begotten Son would descend through. Ruth was not a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet, the Son of God that came through that lineage also has Ruth's DNA. The Messiah of Israel is a descendant of Ruth. And it's all because of the faith of Ruth! Robert C. Hudson November 25, 2023