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.

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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

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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.

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Ruth 4:15 (KJV) A Perfect Answer

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Ruth 1:20-21 (KJV) Unspeakable Treasure

Ruth 1:20-21 (KJV)
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

Naomi thought she returned home empty. The truth is, she came home wealthier than she could have ever imagined. She lost all that she believed mattered in life. She gained a treasure only eternity could reveal. 

It could easily be said that she and her husband made a huge mistake leaving the Promised Land in a time of famine. Many have accused them of causing their own calamity. Maybe so. But if they had not gone out, Naomi would have never returned with Ruth. 

I think of the endeavor of the missionary. He risks a great deal. Relationships, family, security, health. Sometimes they return home feeling defeated. Perhaps they have more in their heavenly stores than they can imagine. Perhaps, having risked and lost all here, they have laid up unspeakable treasure in eternity. 

And you. You may believe yourself to be Mara, empty and abandoned. I encourage you not to lose hope. God may have a plan for your life you cannot dream. 

• Come to the Lord. 
• Dwell with His people, and 
• Allow Him to work. 

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.

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Ruth 1:20-21 (KJV) Unspeakable Treasure

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Ruth 4:9-10 (KJV)
And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.

Just an observation, the context of this whole book is raising up a seed for the dead. It was a law God had established generations before this and it is an important picture of the work of Jesus Christ. He, as our nearest kin, paid our debt and secured for us an eternal inheritance.

It is the name of Boaz that is preserved in the Word of God and it is from Boaz the Bible says comes David and more significantly, Jesus. The other kinsmen didn’t redeem Ruth lest he mars his own inheritance. We know his worries were unsubstantiated.

So too, our own worries are without foundation. Far too often we worry about things we need not. Really the only thing we ought to concern ourselves with is whether a thing is in the will of God as prescribed in the Word of God.

Everything else just works out.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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

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Ruth 4:9-10 (KJV) It Works Out

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Ruth 2:2-3 (KJV)
And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter.And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.

Gill writes,
“…though it was hap and chance to her, and what some people call good luck, it was according to the purpose, and by the providence and direction of God that she came to the reapers in that part of the field Boaz…”

What he says is right enough but I enjoy how Joseph Benson expressed this same truth, “God wisely orders small events, even those that seem altogether contingent. Many a great affair is brought about by a little turn, fortuitous as to men, but designed by God.”

The smallest details are in the hands of God. When those details serve to our favor we tend to be thankful. When the outcome hurts us more we tend to excuse God away.

To see God in either detail, and to trust Him and thank Him–this is the key to walking by faith.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 2:2-3 (KJV) Happenstance?

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Ruth 1:15-18 (KJV)
And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.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:Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.

I know this is Old Testament and cannot be applied definitively to New Testament practice but there is something here worth contemplating. Naomi did not urge her daughters in law to come with her to Israel and to worship the true and living God. She gave them liberty to choose their old life if they were of a mind to do so.

It seems strange, even wrong, to encourage them to go back to false gods. I suppose one could chalk it up to Naomi’s self confessed bitterness. I am not sure that’s all that is here. Can you imagine taking a false believer back to the Promised Land where she mind find a kinsman redeemer and lead him into idolatry? Better to let them have the world than to bring them home and bring the world with them. It was only after Ruth made a strong profession of faith that Naomi left off speaking to her and led her to the people of God.

Good churches have been and are being destroyed by being too willing to let “converts” bring the world with them into the church. The spirit of Balaam is at work in our world. These churches don’t curse the people of God. They just spoil them by mixing them up with the people of the world.

Naomi had it right. These Moabite girls were welcome in the Promised Land but only after they had completely disavowed their: worldly culture, religion and associations.

To my readers:
I would love to hear from you. Leave comments below.

For this and more than 4100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

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 1:15-18 (KJV) Not So Fast!

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Ruth 3:1 (KJV) Concerned for Souls

Ruth 3:1 (KJV)
Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?

I see in Naomi a type of the Christian who is concerned about souls. Having gone out and, at no small cost to herself, brought Ruth into the Promised Land, she refuses to leave Ruth alone to muddle her own way through. Naomi seeks rest for Ruth. She is capable of doing so because:

• She has a personal relationship to Boaz
• She has an understanding of the plan of God
• She has a regular contact with Ruth
• She had a willing disciple in Ruth

Naomi’s guidance transformed Ruth from a stranger (albeit a virtuous one) to a part of the family of God.

Naomi was by no means a perfect person. But she was used of God in an impossible situation. The same may be said about any Christian with concern enough to reach out to win and disciple others.

Ruth 3:1 (KJV) Concerned for Souls

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Ways to Make it Good

Ruth 3:2 KJV

And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.

This demonstration of the grace of God serves as a reminder that, as bad as things might look, God has ways to make it good. 

• Naomi had left Israel under a famine. It was a bad time 
• Her husband and sons died in a foreign land. It must have been a terrible time
• Orpah returned to her own people and, while Naomi approved of it and even suggested it, it would have meant more Loss of Naomi. This is a bad time 

By the time Naomi returned to her own country she was so downhearted and depressed she refused her own name and just wanted to be remembered for her pain. 

But God was at work. Ruth returned with her, providing a glimmer of hope. Ruth was of great character which gave Naomi a means of survival. Then God stepped in. The hap was that Ruth gleaned in the field of an eligible near kinsman. Ruth found the husband Naomi said couldn't be had and Naomi nursed a baby she could not have dreamed would be in her family. 

As dark as a day might seem there is always a reason to have hope in Jesus Christ. 

Orpah Kissed Naomi but Ruth Clave to Her

Ruth 1:14 KJV

And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.

I see in this passage a contrast that has happened to me over and over during the years of ministry. There have been some who have clung to me. They have become fast friends who have both benefitted and been beneficial to the ministry God has placed me in. They are there in good times and bad. They are there when they agree and even when they disagree. 

On the other hand, there have been numbers who have departed, some who were angry for sure but more who left pretending to still be friends. They have kissed me on the cheek as it were while they packed their bags to abandon what we have been called to do 

• One family urged me not to feel uncomfortable when we saw each other at various fellowship meetings
• Another family announced to the church that there were zero problems between us as they said goodbye and moved their membership to another local church
• Still, another family wrote an open letter proclaiming how the only thing that would make their new membership at the church just blocks away from ours was if I and the pastor of their new church were co-pastors together. They zealously wrote that, should that happen, they would be on the front pew "amening" the both of us as we preached 

They "kissed me" but then they forsook me. 

Now all of this is to be expected I suppose. I am far from perfect and could never perfectly pastor any person. But this contrast is also apparent in people's responses to Jesus. I see some who love the Lord with all of their heart and soul and mind and cleave to Him regardless of pain and loss. I see others who claim to believe and love God but live in total disobedience to Him and His Word. They kiss Him on the cheek as they betray Him for the world. 

A simple kiss is no substitute for truly cleaving to the Lord. 

He Won't Rest

Ruth 3:18 KJV
Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.

Although the portrait can be carried too far, it is still appropriate, I think to view Boaz as a biblical type of Christ and Ruth as a biblical type of the church and of the Christians within a church.

• Ruth had asked Boaz to be the redeemer
• Boaz had agreed to meet the legal demands of the redeemer and now
Naomi advised Ruth to rest herself and be still in the assurance that he would not rest until he had performed his promise.

That is exactly the picture of salvation found in the New Testament.

• Christ has shown us kindness
• We respond in asking for redemption
• He agreed to meet those legal demands in fulfilling the law during His thirty three years and in paying our sin debt on the cross
And now we wait for His return to claim us.

The Apostle said "I am persuaded that he is able" and that "He which began a good work in you will perform it." Ours is to rest in that promise and wait. We may and we should witness to others so that they may enter into this promise as well but we never need believe there's more we must do to make the promise come to pass.

We can trust Christ to never rest until those who have sought redemption from him find that redemption perfectly fulfilled.

Two Fer ... I wrote two today

Look for the second one below this...

Ruth 1:1 KJV
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

It is fascinating to me that no sooner have we finished the book of the Judges, where every man does that which is right in his own eyes, than God gives us the answer for that sin in the book of Ruth. Of course I am reading ahead some because the answer isn't found until the end of this little book. But even then I am reading ahead (as does the writer of Ruth) to King David and far beyond him to King Jesus.

This narrative takes us back in the time of the judges. God isolates one of those crazy events of the time into its own record. It begins with a family moving away from God and experiencing tragedy and heartache because of it. The boys marry outside of their faith. Then the three men all die leaving their wives to fend for themselves and leaving Naomi crushed emotionally and spiritually.

The devastation of backsliding is hardest on those who are the survivors of it.

But even in the midst of the backsliding the devastation and the heartache God was at work. God took what man meant for selfish purposes and turned it for good in bringing Ruth to Boaz and using them as the parents of that line that would deliver to our world, the Saviour.

I look at the world in which I live and see a terrible mess.
• The lost numbers are swelling
• The false religions are growing
• The Christian faith has lost its way, being much more about the business of the church than the ministry of the Lord.

But there is nothing to fret. God is alive and even now, I am confident, at work.
• It may be in some family we would never imagine
• It might be in some far off country
• It could be in some young person we would never dream of
God is working. And, in an hour that we think not, Jesus Christ will come again.

I want to be walking in the will of the Lord when He visits His people.

Ruth 1:6 KJV
Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.

Naomi's husband had taken her and the family to a distant country because there was a famine in the Promised Land. I meet a lot of people who have done the same.
• They have looked at the Christian faith
• They have seen things they did not like there
• They have been disappointed because of some trial they faced as a believer
So they have gone to another land.

It's not like things were any better outside of the Promised Land. Sure, their sons found wives, but they were strangers to their faith. And all three men died outside of the Promised Land. They could just as well died at home. But then Naomi heard that the Lord had visited in Israel. While they were away from the Promised Land; God blessed in the Promised Land.

I take that as an ironic warning to stay with the Lord and in His church even if it seems like there is a famine there. When the Lord visits, He will visit His churches. In the letters to the seven churches of Asia, Jesus rebuked the sin in the churches but He did visit the churches. He had no word for those outside of those churches except tribulation.

Why We Rest

Ruth 3:18 KJV
Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.

Sit still; the man will not rest...

The reason the believer has rest is because Christ will not rest until He has performed that good work which He has begun in us.

If I have asked another to do a very important task and I trust that they are the sort that will not rest until the task is finished, then I can rest in that faith. If however I do not have confidence in the character or the ability of the one in whom I have committed my task, then I will have no rest. I will have to check one the work, perhaps even attempt to do it myself.

So whether I find rest in my Christian faith or not depends on my faith in the
• Character
• Promises and
• Ability
Of the Lord.

And I can measure my faith (or the faith of another) by the rest they possess. If I find I do not have spiritual rest; if I struggle with questions of doubt and insecurity either in my soul or in my confidence in Christ's work in the world around me, it is a sure sign that my relationship with the Lord is not on the level it needs to be.

God's Kindness

Ruth 1:20-21 KJV
And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

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.

Naomi went from terrible depression "...the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." To great joy "...Blessed be he of the Lord who hath not left off his kindness..."

No doubt life will hold some of both for us. There will be those times when we think God has dealt pretty harshly with us.
Sometimes it will be really the result of our poor choices.
Sometimes it will be the attacks of the devil and
There will be other times when it will be God himself proving us in our faith so that we grow.

In all of those times we will do better through them if we will lean on the Lord and remember that they all come to an end. We will one day again, and likely soon, experience the great kindness of God and realize that even that which was so hard on us at the first was really only for our blessing.