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  Day 15 Ruth 2:3b “…she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.” Work that God has prepared. Godincidences. I heard that word years ago from a good friend who said, “There are no coincidences, only Godincidences.” After that, I have heard it more and more. It is now a cliché. Yet true, nevertheless. What were the odds that Ruth would end up in the part of the field that belonged to Boaz? Did she Google it? Did she ask her neighbors for recommendations on a good field to glean in? No. It wasn’t by chance that she went there. Her work had already been designed. Her road had already been prepared for her in the heavenlies. Have you ever stopped to ponder on some of the seemingly little things that come your way? A fork in the road, perhaps? A distraction from what you were doing? An obstacle that stops you in your tracks? Or simply an event that seems small and insignificant. You don’t think about it much. You simply go...

Day 14 Ruth 2:2b And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” Listen. Seek the blessing. Find affirmation. It’s not news to say that Ruth respected Naomi’s opinion. If she didn’t, she would not have mentioned her intention to go glean. It is obvious as well that Ruth knew the law and its provision that ordered the workers not to pick up the sheaves that fell and leave them for the poor to pick up after them. Knowing this, she could have just gotten up and left. But she didn’t. She sought affirmation from her mother-in-law. As a younger person, under the authority of her elder, she gave her full disclosure of her intentions and sought her affirmation and blessing. She didn’t fly solo. Many times in life, as a sanguine/choleric temperament, I have done things on impulse, without thinking them through, without seeking godly counsel. It has always backfired. Not once have I been successful when doing things that way. It would have been easy for Ruth to rise early in the morning and leav...

Day 13 Ruth 2:2a And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” When my family and I arrived in the United States so many years ago, I remember that the first thing both my parents and my older sister did was look for a job. Because of my baby sister’s illness, when we landed, my mother was the last. As soon as my sister got well, I remember one day that my mother got up early in the morning and said, “I’m going out, and I will not return until I have a job.” Needless to say, those were the days of no cell phones, so it was scary for us. She did not speak the language and did not know the city. She did not drive either, so she depended on public transportation and the goodness of others. She had no idea what kind of neighborhoods she would have to go through to get to her final destination, the beach strip where all the hotels were. By 8:30 p.m. that evening, we were ready to c...

Day 12 Ruth 2:1 Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. Foreshadowing. I’m sure you heard of it in high school English. It is a literary term that expresses something to come before it happens. A hint, perhaps, a subtle suggestion of what is to come, of what to expect in a novel or a story. I wondered many times why the second chapter of Ruth starts by introducing us to Boaz. Just one isolated verse right there at the beginning. To some, it might seem like a distraction. We have been following Ruth and Naomi, their journey home,and  their relationship. Now, we are introduced to a character that we had not heard of before. A “by the way” so to speak. One verse, just one verse. And just like that, back to Ruth and Naomi. As we keep reading, we will find out more about this man and his role in the story. He was a righteous man. The ESV version says “a worthy man”, others say “a mighty man”, “a man of we...

Day 11 Ruth 1:22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. The last verse of chapter one reads like the end of a romantic movie. I can see it now. The camera pulls away as the two women walk through the frantic city, arm in arm. Fear is in their eyes. Then it cuts slowly to an open barley field, with the soft wind caressing the top of the plants, making them dance to its uneven rhythm. The workers seem smaller and smaller as the camera pans out; the entire scene gradually blurs until it eventually blacks out and the credits begin to roll. We could end the story there. There was certainly plenty to ponder on so far. Decisions are important. They can turn our lives upside down. They can open a world of opportunities or shut down all possibilities. We can change the outcome of our earthly life forever. They can also determine our eternal destiny. Have you ever felt like you’ve ma...

Day 10 Ruth 1:20-21 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the  Lord  has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the  Lord  has testified against me, and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” I have two dear friends who have endured unimaginable losses recently. One lost her only child, who was only seventeen. The other one lost her mother suddenly and unexpectedly, the only family she had left. It is heartbreaking to hear their stories. They both are grieving in different ways. One is angry at God and has blamed him for taking her mother from her, even though she had asked him not to, and He knew she was all she had left. The other one has decided to honor her child and accept God’s decision, knowing that in his sovereignty, God is still in control. She has clung to the hope that he is now in the arms of the Lord, and even though the circumstances of his...

Day 9 Ruth 1:19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” I can only imagine that trip after their rather heated conversation. All 50 miles. All 7 to 10 days. Silence. Reflection. Thoughts of what it was, what could have been, what will be. One woman looking to the past; the other one to the future. The heaviness of heart for both as they now face an unknown future that neither of them had planned or even imagined. “What was I thinking? I should have insisted more; I should have just ordered her to go back to her family and her gods. After all, what has my God really done for me? Look at me. I am on my way back home, dressed in shame. A widow, with no inheritance to show. What will they ever think of me? And on top of that, now I bring with me the constant reminder of things past in the person of Ruth, who will not let me go.” And sure enough, the...

  Day 8 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. Ruth 1:18 (ESV) Give up, or give in? Have you ever had a child, or a grandchild, or anyone for that matter, be so persistent as to convince you to do something, give them candy, perhaps, or accompany them somewhere? “C’mon, do it! Why not? I’ll be great, you’ll see!” You keep saying no and making up excuses. You really don’t have a valid reason (unless you are a parent, and that candy is not a good idea) to say no. But they are so determined that you finally give up your battle and give in to their request, even though you think you might regret it later. Some things, though, are not as trivial. How many times has your spouse or your parent, or your best friend tried to convince you to go to a doctor and get something checked? How many times has someone told you NOT to do something because they can see the bigger picture that you can’t, because you are so engulfed in the excitement of the...

  Day 7 Ruth 1:14,16-17 Ruth clung to her…But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.   Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the  Lord  do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”   I remember in my much younger days how I would be obsessed with women I admired and looked up to. I so wanted to be like them that I would harass them to the point of annoyance. Have you ever done it? Or have you ever been the object of it? Have you ever had someone in your life who simply will not let you go? Wherever you go, there they are. If you move away, they call you every day. They want to have the same friends you have. They make friends with your family. They start going to the same church and join your small group. It just feels like you’re being stalked. And the pr...

Day 6 Ruth 1:6 “Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the  Lord  had visited his people and given them food.” Not so long ago, I saw a friend lose her beloved husband of many years. To see them together was a blessing. Then one day, he was gone. She is a determined woman, so she got herself together and moved on. But I know that the hole he left could never be filled. Being a widow was hard in biblical times. In fact, it was the worst not to have the protection of a man. But here they are, not one, but three widows in the same family. A curse? Perhaps. I can picture them walking to the fields together, holding hands, to gather grain in the fields of Moab. I can also picture Naomi, all alone, no husband, no sons, no future, and now more than ever, yearning for home. This verse is very much a parallel to the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus told, except that, this time, it is the...

  Day 5 “These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years.” Ruth 1:4 Mahlon and Chilion were young when they went to Moab, and pretty much grew up there. It’s easy to see how natural it would be for them to adapt to this new nation's culture. After all, I am sure there were not many Israelite women available for marriage there. So, they married outside their nationality and their faith. But in doing so, they also married into paganism and godlessness, directly disobeying one of God’s strongest commands for his people. In other words, they brought into their house other gods, other customs, other values altogether. Even if the women were indeed good, virtuous women in their eyes, their baggage followed them; their DNA followed them. Their father could have very well traveled to Bethlehem to get wives for them, just like Abraham had done years ago. But he didn’t. Why? We’ll never know. Have you ever done ...

Day 4 Now Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. But Ruth replied, “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. Ruth 1:3-5; 16 Decisions, decisions, decisions. While we are on the subject, they are difficult, aren't they? Maybe not so sometimes in simple, everyday issues. What should I cook for dinner? Do I turn left or right? Should I wear blue or beige? You get the point. Even though they make a difference, the consequences are not anything we can’t live without. The important ones, though, are more difficult, as we saw yesterday. The consequences for those are a lot more important and always life-c...

Day 3 Ruth 1:3 “But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.” Shocking. What?! The irony of a bad decision! Before our departure from our homeland so many years ago, I remember as a child how my mother always said, “We all travel together, or we all stay.” My mother was not one to leave anyone behind or send anyone off ahead. We make decisions all the time. Many, after careful consideration. Others on the fly. But for all of them, whether we like it or not, whether we are even aware of it or not, there are consequences. Sometimes they are immediate, others not so much. Sometimes our decisions are well-intentioned; actually, most of the time. I am sure that before taking off for Moab and uprooting his family, Elimelech (whose name means “my God a king”) thoroughly considered the move. After all, there were many things to consider before just taking off; many things to take care of, and others to leave in place, since the idea was always to ...

Ruth 1:6-The Message. One day she got herself together , she and her two daughters-in-law, to leave the country of Moab and set out for home. It’s decision time. So much in life hinges on the decisions we make. We face options every day and every moment of our lives. Left, right, forward, backward. Do I go, do I wait? Should I do it alone, or should I take someone with me? How much, how far? It is an endless task. Nothing that we do is independent of our decisions. Even those things over which we have no control require decisions on our part. Others make decisions for us. They make decisions for themselves that ultimately affect us as well. Making decisions is part of being human. Some decisions are insignificant. Others, not so much, but they are normal. We rarely give them much thought. Others, however, can alter our lives and the lives of those around us. Those we love the most. Some decisions can even change history. Some decisions are easy. They are obvious. Actually, we b...

  Ruth 1:1 “In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.” Decisions driven by uncertainty. I can relate to that. A little over 50 years ago, “in the days when the Castros ruled, there was political oppression in the land, and a man from Havana, Cuba, together with his wife and three daughters, went to live for a while in the country of U.S.” Like my father, the intention of the man from Bethlehem was never to stay forever, but to return home to his land and his family. Except that neither of them made it back. Verse 2 goes on to say that Elimelek and both his sons died while in Moab. Was Elimelek right in taking his family out to a pagan country, leaving his homeland, their customs, culture, worship style, community, and extended family behind? Was he leaving God himself behind in the process? Bethlehem means “house of bread”. So...

  O ne day she got herself together , she and her two daughters-in-law, to leave the country of Moab and set out for home. Ruth 1:6 (The Message)   I confess that I have not read much of The Message Bible.  I am old school (or maybe, just old) when it comes to my bibles. Well, maybe not so old for the King James, but old enough for the NIV and the ESV. And when it comes to paraphrases, my go-to has always been The Living Bible. Nothing against any of the others, of course. Just personal preference because I think it came first, and we all have our own linguistic structure that tends to tilt more toward certain ways of expression than others.             Having said that, I recently ran into this passage, and it stuck with me, and lit a small flame. It was in The Message, which gave the verse a totally new spin for me.             The story of Ruth and Naomi ...