Redeemer Church of Waterford

The house that Ruth built is the answer to three prayers: the prayer of Naomi in Ruth 1, the prayer of Boaz in Ruth 2, and the prayer of the elders of Bethlehem in Ruth 4. The answer to these prayers connects Ruth the Moabitess with Eve the Mother of All Living in Genesis 3, and with Mary, the Mother of Our Lord in Luke 2.

If you want to stop struggling with sin, stop struggling with sin. Stop focusing your efforts on overcoming sin. Rather, redirect your efforts to memorizing and meditating on the word of God, which will sanctify you by moving you away from the presence of sin and toward the presence of Christ.

From the beginning of chapter one, Naomi has been working on a rewrite. She wants to eliminate the pages of her story that are filled with loss, and sorrow, grief, and bitterness. She wants the exciting life, filled with car chases and rooftop leaps, leading to a happy ending where the father saves the children and he holds them in his arms. But what Naomi cannot see in the dark shadows of her grief is that the very ending she is hoping for is precisely the ending God is writing with the pen of suffering in her life.

The rampant sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, the abuse of young women by a doctor they ought to have been able to trust, 60 million babies aborted in the United States since 1973, all affirm God's word when He characterizes our world as one of ungodliness and unrighteousness. Why is the world as it is? For the Christian there can be only one answer: sin.

The kinsman Boaz takes this virtuous woman Ruth and covers her and redeems her in the same way our kinsman Jesus has covered us and redeemed us. When Solomon described the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 it is quite possible he had the reputation and character of his great-great grandmother Ruth in mind.