Ruth 4:13-17 (NIV) 13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth." 16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
What was God saying to the people of Israel through the story of Ruth and what might He be saying to us today? To begin with, the story of Ruth is a story of loyalty. Ruth speaks a word of commitment and loyalty most of us want to hear and receive from someone we love, and a word we want to offer those we love. The kind of loyalty referred to here is translated as kind, steadfast love, faithfulness and devotion, a kind of loyalty that overcomes barriers. Ruth does not see a marriage in her future. She does not see prosperity. She does not see the birth of David’s grandfather. All she sees is struggle and a life of difficulty and hardship, and yet she remains faithful and loyal to Naomi. Through Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi, God overcomes the barriers of age, wealth, race, and other differences between Ruth and Boaz. Through her loyalty to Naomi, the hidden loyalty of God becomes visible and fulfilled.
So what does the story of Ruth say to us? It calls us to loyal living when the plan and purpose of God seems very hidden from our life. It may be hidden by life’s difficulties and struggles. Or it may be hidden by ordinariness of life. We get up in the morning and want to do God’s will. We have made our plans and may have some notion that God’s will is for us to fulfill those plans. But that is not the way the day goes. There are demands and problems we did not expect, frustrations, irritations we did not anticipate.
Loyalty means we stay focused on God’s will. We believe that the plan and purpose of God are stronger in the long run than all the problems and difficulties we encounter. Loyalty means we do not give up our faith commitment when everything goes wrong. We do not give up quickly on working things out when there is conflict. We do not give up on our children’s troubles or on our troubled self. For in the background is the loyalty of God holding our life together when everything seems to be coming apart. Loyalty keeps the faith that God is with us and God is for us, even when we do not see it or feel it.
From a sermon Preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 22, 1997
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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