Scripture

Our verse today comes from Ruth 4:15, “And may he renew your life and sustain you in your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.”

Background

I had already decided to write this devotion when, several hours later, I received a message from my best friend that his mother-in-law had passed away. She had been living with him, his wife, and two daughters for about a year as her health deteriorated from an already-poor state, ravaged by the effects of emphysema. In fact, she moved in with them just days after his own mother passed away. She, too, gave in to disease as she courageously battled cancer. Two beloved mothers, gone within a matter of months, leaving behind families and memories that will forever be connected to them. And I was struck by how similar these situations are to the story of Naomi. She and her husband and two sons had fled a famine and headed east to Moab. Shortly after arriving, Naomi’s husband dies. Several years later, her two sons, now married, die. And here she is, in the land of Moab, with her two Moabite daughters-in-law. But God’s plan had only just begun. The famine that drove Naomi and her family east, where they thought they would be safe, had ended. So Naomi decides to send her sons’ wives back to their families and head back home to Bethlehem to endure her last lonely days where she once lived.

Application

But Ruth won’t cooperate. She refuses to leave Naomi and insists on returning with her to her land, setting up the divinely-appointed meeting with Boaz. Her eventual marriage to him produced a son named Obed, who was the grandfather of David. And David, of course, leads us down the line to Jesus, who brought God’s plan of salvation to this world. One simple family of four, struggling through a famine and the death of all the males, somehow found deliverance through the perfect will of God. There is no way to know how God will use the sorrow and tragedy of our lives. All we can be sure of is that sorrow will come and that God is in control. But is that enough for you? If it is, then He can renew your life and sustain you where you are. He can give you better than what you thought you needed. He can give you more of Himself.

Charge

As we seek Him today, keep coming back to Jesus in the midst of your sorrow. Don’t let the silence and the emptiness make you think that He’s not there. Keep looking for the famine to end.

Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words