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PROVIDENCE, CHOICES, AND FAMILY LIFE (17)
TUESDAY, AUGUST 20
Ruth 3:14-18

Deuteronomy 21:10-22

 

“The LORD preserveth the strangers;
he relieveth the fatherless

and widow.…”

 

PROVIDENCE, CHOICES, AND FAMILY LIFE (17)
 
When Naomi returned to Bethlehem in Ruth chapter 1, her cry was “call me not Naomi, call me Mara…I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty” (Ruth 1:20-21). Yet, the one who returned empty, the LORD had filled. Ruth went back home not only with an answer of hope, she also went back bearing six measures of barley. But these great blessings and gifts were not received without agency that God used to bless them, nor without means that Ruth dutifully and responsibly applied herself to perform.
 
“…And she told her all that the man had done to her” (Ruth 3:16-17). The arrival of Ruth at home was met with a question. And she responded by recounting to her mother-in-law “all that the man had done to her,” i.e. what providence had ordained, and what grace had provided, for them. She then went on to add that Boaz had told her: “Go not empty unto thy mother in law” (Ruth 3:17). In the Law, God instructed the children of Israel on how to deal with strangers, widows and orphans, as well as warned them against neglecting or mistreating them, reminding them that when the widows and orphans “cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry” (Exod 22:23). He also described Himself as one who “doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger” (Deut 10:18). And true to His Word, the LORD had by His providence so ordered the steps and ways of Naomi and Ruth such as to fulfil that which He had declared concerning Himself in the Law of Moses, and had said He would do for them in the Law. Indeed, the LORD is “a father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows” (Ps 68:5). Even though at their return, Naomi thought that the LORD had brought her home again empty, yet providence had so purposed that her emptiness would be filled upon her return to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:6). Ruth, who had refused to return to her people and her gods, and had chosen to follow Naomi and “come to trust” in the LORD, shared in the goodness and blessings of the LORD. The LORD had heard and answered their cry.
 
THOUGHT: (Read Psalm 103:19.)

PRAYER: I thank Thee, Father, that Thy kindness is inexhaustible.

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