Sunday, March 22, 2009

Redeemed

Focus verses: Ruth 3:6-13

The story of Ruth and Naomi is well known.

Coming back from Moab, Naomi asked the people to call her Mara, bitter, because all hope seemed to be gone. She had lost her husband and both sons. All she had was her widowed daughter-in-law. Two women alone in a society which didn't really value lone women very highly.

But Boaz is a kinsman who can "redeem" their situation. If he marries Ruth and they have children, the line is preserved because the kinsman and the first husband came from the same clan. This was the law in Israel at that time.

The genealogy at the end of chapter four leads us from Perez to David. Another genealogy will lead us from David to Jesus Christ. Boaz didn't just redeem Ruth, he is in the lineage that redeemed us all.

Without that redemption, we have nothing. With that redemption, we have everything.

Father, God,

Words fail us in our gratitude for Your provision for our redemption. Our grateful hearts seek after you, only. To be close, to be channels of Your love to this world. Keep us faithful to that purpose.
In Jesus' most precious name.
Amen.

No comments: