Ruth 2:4 (KJV) Blessings in Both Directions

Ruth 2:4 (KJV)

And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.

1 Timothy 6:1–2 (KJV)
Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.

Ephesians 6:5–9 (KJV)
Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;
Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;
With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

I attempt to teach and preach consistently that the Old Testament provides examples of New Testament truth. We do not get our doctrine from the Old Testament—we get all doctrine from the New Testament—but we find those doctrines illustrated, demonstrated, and lived out in the Old Testament.

We find one such example here.

Boaz, the landowner—the master—comes to the field to supervise and observe the work of his reapers. He approaches his employees with the blessing, “The LORD be with you.” These are not empty greetings or religious clichés. These are prayerful words spoken from a heart of faith in the living and true God. They are meaningful, sincere, and heartfelt. These words are more than a formality—they are a prayer lifted to God.

Boaz is seeking God’s hand upon his workers.

This is immediately followed by the reply of the reapers, “The LORD bless thee.” Again, these are not mere polite words. These are prayerful words spoken from hearts of faith in the living God. They are meaningful, sincere, and heartfelt. These words are also more than a pronouncement—they are a prayer lifted to God.

Now the workers are seeking God’s hand upon their master.

In our modern world of unions, labor struggles, demands for workers’ rights, and corporate mismanagement, there is—according to the Word of God—an answer. When the employer truly seeks the welfare of his employees, and the employee honestly seeks the best for the employer, everyone wins. There are business coaches, mentors, advisors, and counselors who teach these principles.

But there is only one source where this comes to its fullest and highest expression—when both the owner and the employee know God, believe His Word, and practice the great truths found in the Bible.

When the boss prays for his employees, believing that God answers prayer, and when the employees pray for their boss, believing that God answers prayer—remarkable things will happen:

• For the business.
• For the family.
• For the economy.

#BiblicalWorkEthic #FaithOnTheJob #PrayForYourBoss #ServeAsUntoTheLord #BibleInDailyLife

Blessings in Both Directions: When God Is Honored, Everyone Benefits

Looking for Bible answers about work, leadership, and faith on the job? God’s Word still speaks clearly to our homes, our workplaces, and our nation. 🙏📖 If this truth encouraged you, share it with someone who needs Biblical direction today.

💬 Question for you: Have you ever seen God change a workplace when people started praying? Tell us in the comments!

👉 For more Bible teaching, Christian encouragement, and Scripture-based answers, visit marvinmckenzie.orgtoday. ⛪✨

 To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

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Ruth 2:4 (KJV) Blessings in Both Directions

Ruth 1:4 (KJV) Life Breaks, God Builds

Ruth 1:4 (KJV)

And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

Life moves on—or at least, sometimes it looks like it does.

After the death of her husband, the boys took wives. Death is always sad. It is a loss, and it is irreplaceable. But life does go on, and we often find other ways to rejoice. Weddings can do that.

Each of the boys is wed. While Naomi undoubtedly would have loved for her husband to see the weddings, to meet the brides, and to look forward to grandchildren, still she could rejoice in the prospects.

Ten years.

Whether all of these years followed the death of her husband, I am not sure. But I am sure of this—no grandchildren came, and both boys died. Nothing breaks a parent’s heart like their children dying first. It is not supposed to be that way.

She is alone. By this time, she is old. Without her husband. Without her children. Without grandchildren. Her daughters-in-law are from a strange land. Mara—bitter, disappointed, disillusioned, depressed. She sees no future, no hope, no redemption from this life, except to exist until death finally and mercifully ends her despair.

I have attempted to paint the picture in the most depressing terms I possibly could because I have read the end of her book.

While she can see no hope and no resolution for her loss, we—who have read the end of her story—know that this is the most hopeful conclusion humanity can imagine. Out of her bitterness springs the family from which the Saviour of the world will come.

Here is the thing: none of us have read the end of our story. No matter how bad it may seem, no matter how hopeless things may appear, no matter how great the loss—we do not know how our story ends. It could be that our greatest days spring from our lowest moments.

There is one point I feel we need to see. For Naomi and Ruth, things turned right when Naomi returned to the Promised Land and Ruth embraced the biblical plan.

No matter how low you go, come to the Lord and choose a life of obedience to the Scriptures. I cannot tell you how your story ends—but I can tell you it will end better if it ends there.

#HopeInHardTimes #GodWritesTheEnding #FaithThroughLoss #RuthAndNaomi #GodsGraceInDarkness

Life Breaks, God Builds: The Road Back Changed Everything

📖 Looking for real Bible answers in a broken world? Naomi couldn’t see the end of her story—but God was already writing redemption through her pain. If you’re walking through loss, confusion, or a season of bitterness, the Word of God still gives clear hope, solid truth, and lasting direction.

👉 What has been the hardest season of your faith so far? Share in the comments—we’d love to encourage you.

🔎 For more Bible answers, short devotionals, and solid Scripture teaching, visit marvinmckenzie.org today and keep growing in God’s Word. 🙏

 To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 7000 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Ruth 1:4 (KJV) Life Breaks, God Builds

Ruth 1:16 (KJV) Two Nice Young Ladies

Ruth 1:16 (KJV)

And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

Ruth and Orpah appear to have both been very nice young ladies. I’ve come to believe Elimech was of better character than he is usually given credit and it seems to me that one of the evidences of that is the character of the girls his sons chose as wives.

That being said, Ruth stands out, and I believe that is the intention of the account as of exceptional quality.

Consider the many temptations to return to her old life

• Her husband had died
• Her mother-in-law had decided to go to BethlehemJudah
• Naomi urged them to go back
• Naomi explained to them the price of remaining
• Orpah did turn back
• Naomi used Orpah as reason for Ruth to do the same

Still, Ruth begged her mother-in-law to allow her to follow after her.

Ruth clave to Naomi and became the blood from which our Saviour came forth.

Our world has many good people. Goodness is not the same as godliness. Ruth embraced not only Naomi but:

• Naomi’s home
• Naomi’s family
• Naomi’s culture
• Naomi’s God and
• Naomi’s eternity

Ultimately, she gave the world 

• Naomi’s Messiah

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Ruth 1:16 (KJV) Two Nice Young Ladies

Ruth 2:20 (KJV) It Did Happen

Ruth 2:20 (KJV)

And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.

Very few people rival Job[1] for the suffering he experienced versus the blessing he knew at his end. Naomi is one of those few.

I see Elimelech and Naomi departing from Bethlehem to Moab perhaps not running from the famine but going as witnesses – missionaries. There is no doubt that the end result was missionary. Naomi returns home bereft of her husband and her sons. She is so depressed she asked not to be called by her given name but instead to be called Mara. She left full and came home empty. I’ve met some missionaries who have felt that way about their work.

But God was not through with Naomi. In fact, she returned home with the one needed treasure. It was something she could have never provided her nation had they not left Bethlehem and had not she lost her son. She came home with Ruth. Through her, God used Naomi to give to Israel the line through which our Saviour comes. 

When we are in trouble it is difficult to see what God is doing. It’s possible to forget why we began to serve Him. It is sometimes impossible to see how God can turn things for good. 

But it did happen. It happened to Joseph, it happened to Naomi. It will happen to you and me if we will but trust God awhile longer. 

---

[1] And this despite the number of people who have, over the years complained to me, “Don’t tell me about the sufferings of Job. He had God on his side, and I don’t.” Or something to that effect.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Ruth 2:20 (KJV) It Did Happen

Ruth 4:15 (KJV) A Perfect Answer

Ruth 4:15 (KJV)
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him.

Matthew 10:37
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

I am a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I cannot imagine much that would be more painful than losing a child. I cannot imagine much that could possibly replace one of my children, much less be better than seven sons. But this one does it. 

Seven is the number of perfection. The child, born to Ruth and Boaz, and credited to Naomi, became the grandfather of King David and, more importantly, in the line of Jesus Christ. He really is the perfect replacement for Naomi’s son. 

I wonder how many times a prayer like that of those praying a blessing upon this baby, Obed, had been prayed? How many times someone had prayed for an answer more perfect than anyone could imagine? Sometimes it seems like our prayers are not answered. That’s never the case. God answers our prayers in ways we could never have guessed. And the best ones await us in eternity. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4700 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

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Ruth 4:15 (KJV) A Perfect Answer

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