Ruth Chapter 1
Salient instructions to us from this chapter:
- Singles -
Do not marry in 'Moab'.
- Disciples -
God wants to SEE you arise; He is frustrated of arising borne out of
lip-service.
- Families - The consequence of leaving God’s abode for temporary bread in Moab,
resulted in three funerals for Naomi.
- As
Naomi repented and returned to Judah, God divinely arranged for her to arrive just at the beginning of a harvest season.
Ruth Chapter 2
Ruth’s first priority in
Bethlehem was to glean for food in the field for herself and her mother in-law.
Vs. 2&7
Our
focus after salvation should be to glean for food in the field of scriptures, first for our lives and subsequently for others that God may add to us.
- She did not busy herself first with finding a spouse, how to make money, how to establish a new name/identity or how to set out to accumulate all she lost in Moab.
- Ruth was qualified to glean from the fields after the harvest because she was a widow, poor and childless. Deut. 24:19-22 & Lev. 19:9-10.
- As a woman and an outsider, she was especially vulnerable and she had to be careful where she went - she thrust her life to God. Prov. 3:5-6.
- Her situation, difficult as it may, did not stop her from seeking food for her soul/spirit.
- Faith was not just a theory - she believed that God loved her and would provide for her and so she set out to find a field in which she could glean. James 2:20 & Deut 10:18.
- Clear picture of diligence, largeness of heart and someone who would not eat the bread of idleness. 1 Kings 4:29 & Prov. 22:29.
A Life of Submission - Ruth
- Ruth was willing to progressively acquaint herself with Jesus through the instrument of a human discipler - Naomi.
- Her knowledge of Naomi’s past did not block her from seeing and extracting Christ through her life.
- She consistently sought counsel; submitted herself and obeyed ALL the instructions directed at her. Ruth 2:2-3; 2:14; 18; 21-23; 3:3-9; 3:14-18.
- Ruth did not at any point seek to establish her own independence from Naomi like Lot’s wife from under Sarah’s tutelage.
- Boaz gave her instructions to stay in his field which Ruth gladly obeyed. He protected and provided for her. Ruth 2:8-9.
- Sometimes, God directs us to a place where HE can nourish us and allow us feed dying lives, but our disobedience denies us of experiencing the miraculous.
God directed her to
Boaz’s field.
- "And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose" - Rom
8:28
- It
was God who directed her to Boaz’s field. Are you the one directing
yourself to the ‘man you like’?
Benefits of Submission
10-11 She found favour in Boaz’s eyes.
- Whatever good/bad we do, people hear about it.
- Her positive CV was read out to Boaz when it mattered
most in her absence.
- The steps you have taken for God makes room for you.
- Boaz blessed her.
- When we take a decision to come under God’s wings, the
result is blessing, favour and grace. Heb.11:6a
15-17 God deliberately had some specific provisions
for Ruth in Boaz’s field.
- Boaz did not tell Ruth about the instructions that he
gave his workers. Sometimes God has a purpose for where he sends us, even
though HE may not share those details with us.
19-22 It was evident that Ruth was favoured and
blessed. Naomi noticed it also.
2:23 Two types
of revival (barley & wheat).
- She was part of the two types of harvest- not farm work but harvesting lost souls, enforcing God’s kingdom on the
earth and fulfilling destiny.
- That is one privilege we should not miss out as
singles, which is - being a part of the move of God. Whatever God is doing around us,
we must be a part of it; we might also get the incentive of being paid for
it or blessed by it.
- The end product of their labour was the harvest season -
the focus is the harvest, not just the gleanings we take home.
- While the revival was going on, she remained
humble and obedient. She did not leave her mother-in-law’s house for new
independence. She stayed put at Boaz’s field to partake of the harvest.
Food for Thought
- As a single, what is your primary longing? Is it how to become like Jesus?
- Are you going to let the issues confronting your life (good or bad) sink you or help you thrust your life to Christ?
- Are the issues confronting you (good and bad) bringing out Jesus’ virtue?
- Can the Holy Spirit boast of having unlimited access to scrutinise your life so that Christ can be formed in you?
- Have you become too big, too smart, unbendable, spiritually arrogant, spiritually proud or more spiritual than your discipler? Hence the reason you are you seeking to sever your relationship like Lot’s wife?
- Can you boast of being a partaker of the harvest season or do you merely just exist?
- Are you focused on the harvest/revival or just the gleanings to take home?
- Can men see the workings of Christ in your life?
