-
Christian Devotional – March 2, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 9 Not me. Read Ruth 4:8. Boaz is going to take care of the issue. He locates the other man who has the right of redemption and asks him about his interest. Initially, the man is very interested in purchasing and redeeming the land however, when he learned that it also included a wife, he changed his mind and said, “No, not me.” It makes me wonder, how often do we get presented with something that God is looking to do, and we say, “No, not me. That might hurt my own plans that might get in the way of what I’m doing.” We can be the…
-
Christian Devotional – March 1, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 8 Wait. Read Ruth 3:12-18. Ruth has done everything she has been told to do. She followed Naomi’s instructions. She followed Boaz’s instructions. Now she is sitting at home waiting. Naomi reminds her that what she is supposed to be doing now is to wait. Waiting may be the hardest thing that I have ever had to do. I like action. I like purpose. I like being intentional about what I’m doing. However, there are times when we’ve done everything we are supposed to do. The only thing we are to do at that point is to wait. God understands timing perfectly. God recognizes there is a…
-
Christian Devotional – February 28, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 7 A woman of noble character. Read Ruth 3:7-11. Ruth makes her request and we see Boaz’s response. He is going to address the issue, but he makes a statement about Ruth that is really interesting. He calls her a woman of noble character. For me, this called to mind the woman described in Proverbs 31. It’s not too far of a stretch to imagine that this passage in Proverbs 31 could have been a description of Ruth. When we think about being a Godly woman and following the example of a Godly woman, we recognize that Ruth was embodying everything that would have been later described…
-
Christian Devotional – February 27, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 6 Ruth’s obedience. Read Ruth 3:1-6. Naomi finally stops feeling sorry for herself and realizes that she has the means and the ability to help take care of her daughter-in-law. Naomi starts to see her purpose again and find hope in what she has to do. Naomi gives Ruth some specific advice on how to get the conversation started with a potential kinsman redeemer. The advice may have seemed odd and strange to Ruth at the time, but but she took and did exactly what her mother-in-law told her to do. She trusted her mother-in-law because she knew that her mother-in-law, even with all the difficulties she…
-
Christian Devotional – February 26, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 5 Additional provision. Read Ruth 2:15-23. We saw yesterday how Boaz spoke with Ruth and explained the protection that he was going to provide to her. It’s great when we understand how God is going to work and move in our lives. Today, we see that Boaz actually took care of additional concerns for Ruth without her knowing about it. Sometimes God is working things out that we aren’t even aware of. We have to understand that God is always working and moving and we may not actually know exactly what he’s doing. God is going to impact us and our lives in so many ways, and…
-
Christian Devotional – February 25, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 4 Provision that Ruth is aware of. Read Ruth 2:8-14. As part of Ruth’s example, we see that she is being taken care of. She is told that she is being taken care of. Boaz comes to her and explains that he wants her to make sure that she stays here in his field, and that he will ensure she has everythingshe needs. Being obedient to God reminds us that he will keep his promises to us. We can understand and see how God’s hand moves in our circumstances so that he is caring for our needs. He tells us that he cares for our needs. We…
-
Christian Devotional – February 24, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 3 Be worthy of notice. Read Ruth 2:1-7. Ruth went to work. She recognized that there were needs that they had, and she had the capacity to go out and at least do some small things to meet those needs. She went out and went to work. She found a field in which she was allowed to come behind the harvesters and pick up stray grain. This was long, tedious, arduous work. But when the master of the field arrived, he noticed her. She wouldn’t have been the only one out working. She wouldn’t have been the only one out picking up leftover grain. But her deeds…
-
Christian Devotional – February 23, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 2 Ruth declares her dedication and commitment. Read Ruth 1:6-22. When we read through this section, there are so many pieces that stand out. We see Naomi’s tremendous bitterness and grief. We see Orpah’s confusion. And we see Ruth’s steadfast committment. Ruth was not going to be swayed in her committment by anyone. She knew what she wanted and who she wanted to be associated with and nothing Naomi’s or anyone else said was going to change that. After all we studied in the book of Judges of people riding a rollercoaster of obedience/disobedience, it’s so impressive to see someone so committed to their principles and their…
-
Christian Devotional – February 22, 2025
Ruth’s Example, Day 1 Taking action without consulting God. Read Ruth 1:1-5. As we just finished the book of Judges and saw firsthand how people were not being obedient to God, I wanted to take a few days and walk through Ruth. Ruth takes place during this exact time-frame and is an excellent example of many of the learnings we had in the previous study. As we start off here, we learn that this is the time of the judges and people are doing whatever they want. Here the family of Elimelech decide to move to another country because of a famine. Do they consult God? No. Do they ask…
-
Christian Devotional – February 21, 2025
Avoiding the Rollercoaster, Day 21 Leave the King on the throne. Read Judges chapter 21. As we finish out the book of Judges today, we read a chapter of solutions. You see with the Civil War that the Israelites fought in the last chapter, now they have a tribe that’s in danger of dying out. They realize they don’t want any single tribe to die out, and so they figure out a solution to be able to continue that tribe. Interestingly, they don’t consult God through any of it. They come up with these solutions to solve this problem entirely on their own. And while it does accomplish the purpose,…