While my main topic is security, I would be failing in my duties if I miss out on one single truth that runs across the pages of the Bible, which is that God has not left any issue untouched in the vast panorama of human relationships. Oh yes, He has not left untouched even the most sensitive relationship between a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law often dubbed as “the lull before the storm,” and which has been a theme of many a TV Soap opera.
In fact in the short, delightful story of Ruth (I would exhort all my friends to read this book before reading my devo any further), we see the portrayal of an ideal mother-in-law (Naomi) and a selfless daughter-in-law (Ruth), who, instead of asserting their rights, gladly seem to sacrifice them for the benefit of the other.
Nowhere in the Scriptures does the truth that God ‘is the helper of the helpless’ (Psalms 10:14) ring more true than in the lives of these two widows who begin their long, arduous task of re-building their lives after the shattering loss of losing their husbands to untimely deaths wrought by sicknesses. The news of good crops in her native land draws Naomi (an immigrant Jew) in the land of Moab back to the land of her fathers, along with a determined widowed daughter-in-law (of different nationality) who would not let her mother-in-law experience the travails of widowhood all alone (Ruth 1:6-17). The inspiring words of Ruth steeped in agape, self-sacrificing love recorded in verse17 would make any person taking his or her marital vows proud. Also by stating ‘Your people shall be my people & your God shall be my God’ (verse16), she was walking effectively into the loving, strong, supportive arms of her Creator, who true to His nature, would not let her down…once under His protective care. So much for the theory that God in Mosaic Law times loved only the Jews!
Even as we all rejoice at the happy ending of this story, of Ruth not only being happily married to Boaz (her kinsman redeemer – a pointer towards the ultimate redeemer, the Messiah), but also of her giving her aged mother-in-law a precious grandson (Obed), who eventually was going to be an ancestor of that great king David and the Messiah himself, let us not forget how the first meeting of Ruth and Boaz transpired. It all begins when Ruth, with the permission of her mother-in-law to glean in some fields during the barley harvest (Leviticus 19:9), goes in search of a field and walks by Divine providence straight into the fields of Boaz (Ruth 2:3). The key operative words in the entire book of Ruth are enshrined as it were in verse 3: ‘As it happened, she found herself in the field belonging to Boaz, this relative of Naomi’s husband.’ Is it a mere coincidence, an accident? Nay! At a time when she could have landed up in any other field without meeting Boaz all her life, it was the good Lord who led her straight into the fields of Boaz, and as it were, into his heart. The Lord God Almight, who Ruth accepted ‘as my God’ true to His nature of being her security of all her social and emotional well being from that very moment onwards, eventually brought ‘all good things to pass’ in her life.
Prayer: Father, Thou art faithful…what’s more…Thou art unchanging, if we simply trust ourselves into Thy hands, that’s enough…we do not have to worry about our future. Enable us to trust Thee more and more. In Jesus Name.
Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servent
J and SM Ministries
(To access the entire “Security” mini-series, please click here.)