“Don’t Take the Easy Way Out!”

I love the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz, in the Bible. What a great plan of God!!!

In Ruth Chapter One, we read that Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, had died. He had two sons, who were married to Ruth and Orpha, two young women from the country of Moab. There had been a famine in Bethlehem and that is why he took his wife to Moab. In those days, the “not having a husband,” was almost a curse. There would be no land for a young woman unless she was married. So, Naomi, the mother-in-law, starts to take her two daughters-in-law back to Bethlehem-Judah. But on the way, she feels guilty… She tells her two daughters-in-law to go back to Moab to (find a husband) because she is too old to bear a man child… she can never give them a man child, for them to marry.

Orpha took the easy way out… she wanted to return to her homeland, but Ruth, grabbed hold of the clothes of Naomi, cried and “would not let go,” she would be going to a new land, a new language, new people, and a new God… but yes, something inside her said, “don’t take the easy way out. Go to Bethlehem and serve your mother-in-law.” And she did.

This becomes a “great love story,” that no movie could write. “And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.” (Do you think this was by accident? Of course not!).

She ends up “gleaming in the field” of the “older, richer, wealthier, and kinder Boaz.” When he saw this beautiful young woman, he told his workers, “leave lots of corn behind for her to glean. Boaz told Ruth, “don’t glean in anyone else’s field. You stay right here in my field!”

When her mother-in-law saw that “she had obtained divine favor,” Naomi told Ruth exactly what to do, so that she would not let this “good catch” getaway!

You guessed it! They got married and had a baby boy, Obed, who was the “great-grandfather of David,” who generations later, would bring forth a child from his bloodline, named, “Jesus.” Aren’t you glad that Ruth “Didn’t Take the Easy Way Out?” Today, if you are in the “crossroad,” making a decision, “that good looking road,” might not be the one you should take. Just pray about it! You might miss a “Boaz!” Blessings, Sherry