Are you a Ruth or are you an Orpah?

The Bible is an amazing book that tells the story of mankind without apology. In it we see the depravity of man and the goodness of God. I believe the Bibles we carry around, be it hardbound pages or electronic forms of media, have been ordered by the Spirit of God, even in the way each story is presented. Our Bibles are not compiled in chronological order, but are presented the way God intends us to read them. Though I am not against people using Bible reading plans as a way of disciplining themselves to read it, I believe the best way to read scripture, is to start at the beginning and read straight through.

The positioning of the book called Ruth is but one example. Ruth’s story follows the book Judges and if you remember the story of Judges it has a dark tone to it. It is the story of Israel in a time of their history in which they failed God time and time again. Their great leader Joshua has died and without him they soon fall back into idolatry.

Judges 2:10-15

And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger. They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

It says they were in terrible distress. So, God raised up judges. But they did not listen to them. There is a phrase that is repeated over and over in Judges. “The people of Israel did what evil in the sight of the Lord.” Judges 17:6 tells us that “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” It is another repeated truth we see again and again in Judges. It sounds too familiar to us. We turn on the news, we read social media, we go out in the streets, and it’s easy to see. There is no king in America. Everyone does what is right in their OWN eyes. Our people do what is evil and they do it in in plain sight.

It’s easy to get depressed and downcast with the hopelessness of life around us. Maybe even we struggle individually with a life that looks too much like the Israelites. Maybe we just keep falling back into the old ways of our addictions or our bitterness and anger.

But take hope Christians. God did not intend for us to just sink into the mire of life. Immediately after the book of Judges is a new book, a new story. It is called Ruth. Ruth is story of hope. It is a story of love. It is story of redemption. It is a picture of what Jesus will do for us.

If today life has got you down and you just cannot see hope, then look at the story of Ruth. But read the entire story for it starts out in the days of the Judges and things do not begin well. Ruth 1:1 opens by saying that “In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.” That man dies and leaves behind a wife and two sons, both of which had wives. But then both sons die and these three women are left to fend for themselves. The two widowed daughter-in-laws are faced with a choice. Stay in their homeland or return with their mother-in-law to a land where they will be outsiders. One stays, one goes. It took faith for Ruth to stay by the side of Naomi. The rewards of her faith would end up beyond her wildest dreams. Ruth will end up as one of only five women to be seen in the genealogy of Christ.

Yes, we are living in dark times when society has chosen to reject King Jesus and everyone does what is right in their own eyes. But do not lose hope and do not choose to dwell in a land of despair. Boaz will come along in the story of Ruth and he will redeem her. Not only will she find joy and be fed, but the inheritance of her family’s land will be restored. We have the same hope.

If we live by faith in Jesus and if we live in the grace of God then we have a sure hope in our redeemer and we, like Ruth will have an eternal inheritance.

The days are dark. Our hope in Christ will light them up. Like Ruth we face a choice. We can dwell in a land where people do what is evil in the sight of the Lord or we can go to the fields of Christ where He waits to make us His bride. It comes down to this; feast or famine. Jesus is waiting for you to come to His fields and feast.