You must keep on keeping on!

The Book of Ruth found in the Old Testament is a precious book that tells the story of a woman who marries a man from another country and becomes a widow, then leaves her own home and family to travel with her mother-in-law back to the homeland her family left during the time of famine. In this land this young widow finds a new love, a redeemer who erased all of her financial worries and took her loneliness away!

On that flesh level you can read it as a beautiful love story, on a spiritual level we see an allegory of Christ and the church. We were foreigners, Gentiles, and yet Jesus as our Redeemer called us His own and took us to be His very own Bride.

In the story we find Ruth widowed, far away from home and living in a land where the people worship a strange God yet she was willing to do it because of the love she had toward her mother-in-law Naomi. What I like to stress in this story for anyone looking for a new way of life or a new love, is that Ruth was gleaning faithfully in one field, working morning to night without taking a break and then the Master noticed her faithfulness and ordered the other harvesters to make life a little easier on her by leaving some good stalks of barley for her to find. I liken it to the way we plant colored Easter eggs in plain sight for the little ones to find. You may have found yourself in a complete mess in a strange world of situations and think to yourself “I have done everything I was supposed to do and look what has happened to me!”

Don’t you think that Ruth felt discouraged? She was young and her husband just got sick and died! Then she moved to a strange country with her mother-in-law to a town where she was probably the subject of the town gossip at the local well. Here was a girl who worshipped idols in a place where the Lord God Jehovah was worshipped. Then she was out working in the hot sun seemingly with no reward except the small amount she could glean wheat the others had overlooked, the left overs, but then the Master saw her plight and came to her rescue.

We are working in the field of our world and frankly feeling a little sorry for ourselves and sometimes we think, nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, however we do have a savior a mighty redeemer, His name isn’t Boaz, it’s Jesus!

Psalm 34:5-7 Look at Him; give Him your warmest smile. Never hide your feelings from Him.  When I was desperate, I called out, and God got me out of a tight spot. God’s angel sets up a circle of protection around us while we pray.

What is the lesson here?

1. If you want to be noticed, by God or man, take my Armenian grandfather’s advice to just “keep on keeping on”, working faithfully.
2. Don’t get discouraged even if everything you try seems too hard or doesn’t seem to work.
3. When your Redeemer holds out His hand, take it and hold on to Him for deal life!