Ruth

·         Timeless Truth:

I think a truth that we can take from Ruth is that God provides. In Ruth lies the image of the providence of God and in our trusting Him in hard times as we see Naomi lose everything and yet God provides for her. God is at work in all the small details of our lives that we do not realize or understand. We need to whole heartedly trust God for that which we do not see, knowing that He is reliable and will come through for us.

·         Personal application: One of the things which I can apply to my life is definitely relying on God to provide in my life. Not necessarily as much for me as for the people around me. I often need to trust God for the wisdom to know what to say and I love seeing how Ruth trusts Naomi and does exactly what she tells her and it works so well, it is a picture for me of how I am to respond to God…”All that you tell me I will do”(3:5).

Also loyalty is a big theme in Ruth, she has the opportunity and every reason to leave Naomi but she is faithful and decides to walk along her mother in law in this commitment she made not abandoning her in her time of difficulty. This was such a good reminder to me of the importance of supporting people we have committed to in their times of difficulty and in our times of difficulty.  I want to try this week to do just that and really support those people to whom I am committed be it in actions, words or simply in prayer.

·         Point of Passion:

As I focus on education I want to look specifically at an audience of young girls. In Ruth we see two women who seemed to have lost everything. For many girls I think the idea of having a man to rely on is really important. Even in this time of Ruth we see that as widows they are seen as being without hope and what they need is a husband. For many young women this issue is really difficult. What we see in Ruth is that God provides. As women we need to look to God as our source and provider first and when God blesses us with the right man it is an incredible gift but we should never rely on man more than God. Ruth turns to God and Naomi as well and through this God blesses her with security.