Reading the book of Ruth is like reading a tragedy (the book of Judges) into which someone has inserted a happily-ever-after fairy tale! In fact it is so sweet, so beautiful that we might be tempted to think it is just a too-good-to-be-true legend or myth. Thankfully, however, Ruth’s real story is just a microcosm of what God is actually doing in every believer’s life, all the time.
God is taking normal days and tragic experiences and working it all for our ultimate good and His glory. In these first five verses, we find:
1) Normalcy.
Point to ponder: Even while God is directing nations and governments, he is also intimately involved in the every-day lives of each of his people.
Question to consider: What normal thing, or extraordinary thing, can you trust God with in your life today?
2) Tragedy.
Point to ponder: When tragedy strikes, we are tempted to doubt God: but he is the same, even when our circumstances change.
Question to consider: In the challenges you are facing right now, are you looking to God or yourself for the solutions?
3) Sovereignty.
Point to ponder: Both famine and feasting, sickness and health are dispensed by the sovereign hand of God.
Question to consider: Do you perhaps have too low a view of God, that you have failed to recognize, or bow to, his sovereign will in your life?