Day 97: Ruth 1-4

Welcome to 5 -Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's April the 7th and we'll be looking at Ruth 1 through 4.

Now after the darkness of the book of Judges, the book of Ruth feels almost a little surprising.

But it's not taking place after the events of Judges. It's actually unfolding during the events of Judges.

So you could place Ruth within the time period of the Judges. So we're still in the same period.

We're still roughly 150 to 180 years after the death of Joshua. We're still in the days when everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes.

Which means that while scenes like Judges 19 are happening in Israel, this story of Ruth is happening at the same time.

While the nation is collapsing into violence and confusion and false worship, God is also quietly preserving a people who still continue to walk in faithfulness.

So in that way, Ruth is not a break from the book of Judges. It is a small little window into one scene of what

God is doing right in the middle of it. Now Ruth 1 begins with a famine in the land driving

Naomi and her family to Moab. And what follows is loss upon loss. Naomi's husband dies and then her two sons dies, leaving her and her daughters -in -law in a state of deep vulnerability.

When Naomi finally returns back to her homeland, Bethlehem, she doesn't come back in hope, but in bitterness.

She becomes convinced that the Lord has dealt harshly with her. And yet, one of her daughter -in -laws,

Ruth, refuses to leave her. And her commitment is not merely an emotional commitment, it's a covenantal commitment.

She says, your people will be my people and your God will be my God. And she binds herself to Naomi covenantally and to her people and to her

God. Stepping into a future that appears uncertain, but is in reality being carefully directed by God's hand of providence.

In Ruth chapter 2, the story begins to turn, not through dramatic intervention, but through ordinary provision.

Ruth goes out to glean in the fields as the law provides for those who are impoverished, and she comes into the land of Boaz, a relative of Naomi's husband.

And what appears to be a complete accident is anything but. Boaz sees her and then he protects her and he extends kindness to her beyond any kind of moral or legal obligation that he had.

In a time when Israel was marked by exploitation and violence, his character stands out distinctly, shaped by the fear of the

Lord. The hand of God in this book is not loud, but it is precise and it is guiding every step.

Then in Ruth 3, the story moves into the realm of redemption. Following Naomi's instruction,

Ruth approaches Boab, appealing to him as her kinsman redeemer. Now the moment is bold and he's marked by humility and trust, and Boaz responds not by impulse, but with integrity.

He is willing to redeem her. He is willing to do what the law says about an unmarried widow, ensuring that what is done is not only compassionate, but also righteousness.

Then in Ruth chapter 4, the redemption is secured. Boaz publicly fulfills his role.

He takes Ruth to be his wife. He restores Naomi's family line and the story closes with the birth of a child,

Obed. But the significance reaches far beyond this family. The genealogy reveals that this child will become the grandfather of the future

King David. And what appears to be a small and a very personal story in a very convoluted time of the judges, in reality, is a part of God's unfolding plan to establish a new era and a new king.

So as you read today, I want you to ask the following question. What is God doing when everything around his people appears to be broken and out of control?

And Ruth 1 -4 shows that even in seasons of collapse, God is not absent. He is actively preserving, guiding, and accomplishing his purposes with quiet precision.

And in that way, the central pattern in this book is not merely the hidden hand of Providence of God, but it's the quiet sovereignty that's operating in the midst of a collapsing world.

There's no miracles in this book. There's no divine confrontations. There's no visible displays of God's power.

And yet nothing in this story is random. Every decision and every moment and every encounter and every scene unfolds with remarkable purpose according to the

Providence of God. And this stands in sharp contrast to the book of Judges. There, everything is loud and chaotic and cacophonous and destructive.

Here, everything is restrained and intentional and peaceful and redemptive. And the difference is not that sin has disappeared, but that faithfulness remains in small little remnant pockets.

Ruth shows us that even when the entire nation is collapsing, that God is going to preserve a remnant of people who still live underneath his rule and authority.

And this presses deeply into our lives as well, because God's work is not limited to the dramatic or to the visible.

He's at work, and he's at work in the ordinary, mundane, everyday parts of life.

In the quiet acts of obedience, in the decisions that you make, in the moments that seem small and maybe even unnoticed.

What appears like insignificance to many, in fact, is usually part of something far greater in the story of God.

In the middle of a nation that we live in, that is filled with confusion and instability, God is still writing his story through small little pockets of remnant faithfulness like you and hopefully like me.

Now, Ruth points us also directly to Jesus Christ, not only through the theme of redemption, but through the structure of the story itself.

Boaz is not merely kind. He's a kinsman redeemer, which means he's one who is both qualified and willing to act in order to redeem and rescue a family line who could perish and never have any offspring or ancestors.

And he's the one who has the resources to accomplish it. He's the one who has the integrity to carry through with it.

He's the one who fulfills the law, secures the inheritance for Naomi and restores what could be lost forever.

And this is clearly a picture of Jesus Christ, because Jesus does not redeem from a distance.

He becomes one of us, taking on our very nature so that he might be our true redeemer.

He is both willing and able. He fulfills the law perfectly. He pays the cost fully.

He secures the redemption completely. And he brings his people into his covenant family so that we can have a lasting and forever inheritance.

And the ending of the book of Ruth reveals this is not an isolated story. The child born here leads to David and David eventually to Christ.

In other words, while Judges shows a nation that is collapsing from within under the power of sin,

Ruth shows God's quiet building of the line of the kings who will eventually lead to the king of kings who will resolve all chaos and disorder and sin.

What appears small and insignificant in a tiny little corner of the world is not small.

It's foundational and it's built right into the middle of the ruin because God is preparing redemption from within.

So as you read Ruth 1 through 4 today, pay attention to how God is working in the quiet details, preserving faithfulness in the midst of collapse.

And tomorrow we will move into First Samuel where the need for a king becomes unmistakable and God begins to raise up the one who will sit on Israel's throne.

And with that, read your Bible carefully, devotionally and joyfully. May the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely and we will continue our journey tomorrow.