What is your favorite chick flick – You’ve Got Mail, The Sound of Music, or maybe Meet Me in St Louis?
If your recipe for a great movie or a great story includes a Cinderella-type plot where the poor girl gets the rich guy, also a little gossip, hardship, a scary twist and even a happy ending with a wedding and a baby – then the book of Ruth does not disappoint.
But as we chase the storyline, let’s not miss the big story here. You see, this is not really a book about Ruth or Boaz or Naomi. It is really a book about God. He gets the award for the lead male role in the Book of Ruth. This is a story of redemption, a story of faith, hope and love. I hope you will read and study along the next few weeks as we journey through the book of Ruth together. I’m praying we all know a little more about our great God as we complete our study and that the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to change us to be more like Him.
The Book of Ruth opens with introducing four characters: Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Kilion. The family is originally from Bethlehem but because there is a famine in God’s land, they are leaving God’s people and heading to the country of Moab. Moab had a long history with Israel and it wasn’t good.
Genesis 19 tells that the Moabite nation actually began by an incestuous union between Lot and his oldest daughter. Lot’s daughters got their father drunk and seduced him in order to preserve the family line. You see, you don’t necessarily have to watch 21st century TV to find perversion. Sometimes it is found right here in the Bible.
In Deuteronomy 23:3 God instructs that no Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord but yet those are the very people Elimelech chooses to live among.
Elimelech and his family were taking a road that would lead them to physical provision to stop their famine problem, but in solving their hunger dilemma they completely disregard the potential spiritual consequences. The hunger problem may be solved, but it introduces a grave spiritual problem.
Do we do the same thing? Do we choose to satisfy our short-term needs to be entertained by watching something on television that is inconsistent with God’s standards? Do we satisfy our needs for friendship by hanging with people who have standards inconsistent with those of God and then adopt those same behaviors into our own lives? Do we neglect one-on-one time with God using the “I-don’t-have-time-excuse” but yet always seem to have time to shop, do our nails, or check email? What short-term day-to-day decisions are you and I making at the expense of a long-term consequence? Where do we need to stay the course—even when times are difficult?
Verse 1 tells us that Elimelech intended to live in Moab for a while. Do you ever tell yourself, “I’ll just hit this news button one time and then I will get up and read my Bible” or “I’ll just watch this decedent TV show for a while and then I’ll turn it off” or “I’ll just visit this web site for a while and then I’ll do what I’m supposed to do.” Fill in the blank with your life. Look at Verse 4 – How long did a while turn in to? 10 years. TEN YEARS. The day-to-day choices that we make do indeed define the course of our lives. We can have all the good intentions in the world, but what we are doing today to become the women of God that he is calling us to be? Where have we gotten off course? What do you and I need to make a course correction?
