Thought from today’s Bible reading from Ruth 1-4.
“So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son” (Ruth 4:13).
“So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David” (Ruth 4:17).
Ruth was a Moabite woman who had married one of the children of Israel (Ruth 1:2-4). Yet after her husband died (Ruth 1:5), she was not only welcomed by God, but gave birth to David’s grandfather, Obed. More importantly, she was part of the genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:5).
It is interesting, not just that God welcomed her and used her to play a role in His scheme of redemption, but the Holy Spirit was left us her story. There are some lessons we can learn from her character that show what kind of person the Lord will accept.
She was loyal:
“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or turn back 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 I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.’ When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her” (Ruth 1:16-18).
She was hardworking:
“And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now” (Ruth 2:7).
She was humble:
“Then Boaz said to Ruth, ‘Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw.’ Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’” (Ruth 2:8-10).
We can be accepted by God today, but we must exhibit these characteristics. We must be loyal to God above all others (Matthew 6:24; Revelation 2:10). We must be hardworking in doing His will (Titus 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:58). We must be humble, recognizing our unworthiness before Him (Psalm 8:3-4; Matthew 5:3).
We must have these characteristics if we hope to please the Lord.
Tomorrow’s reading: 1 Samuel 1-3
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
