THINK TOGETHER
What’s your favorite love story? Beauty and the Beast? Cinderella?
READ TOGETHER
Do you love love stories? I do too. The book of Ruth in the Bible tells us one of the greatest love stories ever told. And it all happened during the same time as the book of Judges, which shows us that even in one of the worst of times there were still people who loved God and trusted his love for them.
The story of Ruth begins with sadness. Ruth is a young woman whose husband has died. And at the same time, her mother-in-law, Naomi’s, husband has also died. This means that Ruth and Naomi are now both widows. Have you ever heard the word widow before? Back in the Bible days, life for a widow could be very hard. A woman without a husband or children had no one to help take care of them. Back then a widow couldn’t buy land or get a job. Ruth and Naomi had no land, no jobs, no family, and literally no food.
They would need a redeemer. A rescuer.
And that is exactly what God provided. God sent a man named Boaz to help Ruth and Naomi. Boaz was related to Naomi and so the law of God said that he should help her and Ruth. He was their “Redeemer.”
God worked everything out. Before Ruth and Boaz even knew who each other were, God had Ruth go to work in Boaz’s field. Boaz loved God and he loved people too. Especially those who needed help. Boaz protected Ruth from harm and gave her a job. He made sure she was OK. He prayed for Ruth and always made sure that Ruth and Naomi had plenty of food to eat. He was good man.
All of this was pretty shocking because Ruth was not an Israelite. She was a foreigner from a place called Moab. Israelites didn’t like Moabites very much and they even considered them o be cursed. But Boaz didn’t care. He loved Ruth and Naomi anyway.
One day Ruth and Naomi figured out that Boaz was their Redeemer. So Ruth went to Boaz in the secret of the night and told him that he was her Family Redeemer. Here’s what she said to him:
Ruth 3:9. [Boaz] said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”
Soon Boaz would marry Ruth. He took care of her and Naomi for the rest of their lives. They became a beautiful family together. Ruth would even become the great grandmother of King David and even, years later, of Jesus.
But the book of Ruth isn’t only a love story between a man and a woman. It’s God’s big love story between him and us. God used Ruth and Boaz and their family to save the world through Jesus. Jesus is our Redeemer. He is the one that rescues us from sin and death. Like Boaz, Jesus loves us, and protects us, and takes care of us, and brings us into his family with God. And, like Ruth, we can love Jesus and trust him to be our redeemer who save us from all our sin and sadness and make everything good in the end.
Because of Jesus we are redeemed from our sin and from our sadness by God’s kindness.
With Jesus we can be kind to others each day knowing that God will take care of us forever.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Watch or read one of your favorite love stories together. Talk about how much God loves us and rescues us from sin, sadness, and even death through Jesus.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus,
You are my Family Redeemer that has rescued me from my sin and brought me into your family forever. Thank you!
Amen.
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