In all the obstacles and pain points of life in a sin-infested world, God has not left us without a redeemer. Rejoice, our redeemer has come. Rejoice, our redeemer will come again!

While everyone else in Israel did what was right in the own eyes, Boaz and Ruth obeyed the LORD. Their righteousness creates a refuge where their neighbors can taste the goodness of God. Life in a world polluted by sin and darkness is filled to the brim with struggles with suffering and sin. How do we respond to God and the world when the temptation is to do what’s right in our own eyes? Obey God’s way, behold God’s work.

In chapter 2, Ruth and Naomi begin to see God’s faithful, yet mysterious, plans working themselves out. We are urged to depend upon God’s sometimes mysterious but always faithful provision. This is an invitation to walk with God through difficulty. To depend upon Him. And to look for his provision.

Paul models what it looks like to approach God. He turns to the Sovereign Father on behalf of the Church in Ephesus. And here’s what we learn from him. Humble and sincere prayer connects us to God’s strength and love. Paul’s prayer teaches us what God is like and reveals how God hears and sends aid.

The Church is the keeper and herald of the gospel mystery. For most of the last two thousand years, the Church has done this keeping and heralding work under pressure. And, honestly, the pressure kept generations before us dependent on Christ and longing for Heaven. This passage proclaims the triumph of God in Christ over every power and principality.

Our committed love for one another proclaims the gospel’s unifying power. God gathers a diverse people through Christ. And that confounds the world. Why? Because our unity as His people proclaims the gospel’s power to reconcile what was once alienated.