Another woman in the line of Jesus is Ruth. If you want to read her story it is one of the two books in the Bible named for women and there are many twists and turns in her story - but here is a very quick time line: Women are married and living with husbands trying best to survive in hard times; women lose their husbands; older woman encourages her foreign daughters-in-law to return to their families, one of them refuses. Two women stay together to care for each other and do whatever they have to in order to survive. Older woman finds way to 'provide' for her daughter-in-law and her self; man in extended family also 'provides' and eventually the women are once again in a family situation and seeing that God was with them at all times, in all of their hardships. The young woman (Ruth) is mentioned in the lineage of Jesus.
I know that many of you are just too busy this time of year to sit down and really dig into a Bible story with as many twists and turns as Ruth has. It would take many hours and lots of study to learn about the culture of the land, the society that we are so unfamiliar with and how they were expected to care for family members. This story is often represented as a feel good story quoted (or misquoted) from one verse "whither thou goest I will go". This verse is commonly used in wedding ceremonies, but when you really read the story and learn all of circumstances it is a refugee story. Women that were alone, no one to provide for them, with no husbands or children in a land that if you didn't have those things you really were (and in some cases still today) are 'nobody'. Yes, in the end the women are provided for and secure in a family again, for me this story is included in the Bible to remind us that God sees the whole of the picture, and when we are in the midst of seemingly endless 'bad news' if we just keep on, be prepared in our hearts, God will move in our lives too. As always, it still takes action on our parts.
Life can change in a moment. How we prepare says a lot for how we handle those hard moments when they come. Some people seem to go through life with never a care in the world, but none of us truly know what is happening inside the person next to us. Today I would like you to bring to mind people in your life (maybe it is even you) that have felt the 'hand of God has turned against them'. Like Naomi: the mother in law in the story of Ruth, after losing her husband and both of her sons and living in a foreign land I'm sure Naomi truly thought God was against her! Naomi described herself as "bitter", yet Ruth stayed with her, supported her, and loved her. Ruth didn't go back to her own land, she stayed with her mother in law and faced the hard times and situations. Have you ever made a decision that required turning your back on a time or experience in your own past in order to move to a future that you felt God wanted for you? How do you prepare for that? Is there anything you want or NEED to leave behind this Christmas season in order to move forward into the unknown that God has for you?
Be prepared, go boldly yet watch for opportunities to grow and trust God in what is ahead. It is hard to step out into the unknown but keep young Ruth in mind today. Will you go where God is leading, even if it seems hopeless?
To read the whole story check out the Book of Ruth.
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