My favorite bible story is the story of Ruth. So the story goes that Ruth had married one of the sons of a woman named Naomi. Naomi’s husband had moved his family from Bethlehem to the land of Moab to escape a famine. While in Moab their two sons marry local girls named Oprah and Ruth. Unfortunately father and sons die soon after leaving behind leaving the three women as widows. News soon reaches Naomi that the famine is over, so she decides to return home to Bethlehem. Oprah and Ruth follow Naomi until she turns and urges the girls to return home to their parents and remarry men from their own land. Oprah obeys and bids farewell, but Ruth refuses and in my favorite bible speech declares: “Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
Upon reaching Bethlehem they are greeted by Naomi’s old friends, at which point she announces that she is changing her name from Naomi (pleasant or amiable) to Mara (bitter or bitterness). Ruth and “Mara” set up home again and Ruth embraces Namoi's culture and religon. Ruth goes to look for work so they can eat. She finds work gathering wheat left behind by the sewers in a field belonging to a man named Boaz.
Boaz who is a relative of Naomi's husband, sees Ruth and admires her for her hard work and the kindness she shows to her mother-in-law. He offers her protection in his fields and arranges for her to bring home more wheat. Naomi upon hearing who has been so kind to Ruth starts planning for her Daughter-in-law. To make a long story short: Ruth follows along with her plans and asks Boaz to be her Kinsman Redeemer. Boaz falls in love with her and arranges to purchase her father-in-laws land and marries Ruth. Ruth gives birth to a son who later becomes the grandfather of King David. The moabess Ruth, an outsider, becomes one of the women in the family tree of Jesus Christ.
I love this story, there is so much in here about obedience, having faith, taking chances, and most of all God’s amazing grace. It encourages me to think that maybe one day I will find my Boaz.
