VBS General Session - Day 7

Synopsis

LESSON 7

THE TRAIL OF LOYAL FAITH

GOD PROVIDES

SCRIPTURE PASSAGE: Ruth 1:1-17

Ruth 4:14-16

The Story

Elimelech, a man from Bethlehem in Judah, His wife Naomi, along with their two sons Mahlon and Kilion went to live for a while in Moab, because there was a famine in the land. Elimelech dies here. Naomi’s two sons marry Moabite women, one was Orpah and the other Ruth. After having lived there for 10 years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died. Naomi then decides to go back to her own land. She asks her daughters in law to go back to their mother’s home. Both wanted to go back with her. Orpah reluctantly agrees and goes back, But Ruth adamantly clings to Naomi refusing to go back. Later, in the book of Ruth we see how Naomi and Ruth come back to their hometown. With Naomi’s help Ruth is married to Boaz. She and Boaz have a son Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

  

Lessons we can learn:

Ruth’s choice

Ruth loved her mother in law. She came back from Moab with Naomi saying

Ruth 1:16-17, But Ruth replied “Don’t urge me to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me. ”It shows how the love of God must have flown through Naomi to her two daughters in law, as they did not want to leave her. And Ruth came back with her. It was a difficult choice. But she chose to leave her people and her old way of life and come to the land of Israel and chose to worship the God of Israel.

Ruth’s character:

Hard working: Ruth 2:2 “let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor”

Ruth 2:6… “she went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

Loyal: She followed her mother-in-law to Bethlehem, worked hard and at the end of the day brought back the barley she had gathered and the leftover food too.

Humble: Followed all her mother-in-law’s instructions and in Ruth 2:10 “At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground…” when she finds favor with Boaz.

Noble: Ruth 3:12

Boaz says, “All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character.”

God’s Plan: 

God wanted Ruth to be part of a great plan. He chose this young widow from Moab. No one would have considered her. He worked things in such a way that Naomi and family would go to Moab. Naomi’s son married Ruth. After the death of Naomi’s husband and sons, Ruth, and Naomi return to Bethlehem. Here Ruth meets Boaz, is married to him and Ruth becomes the grandmother of David. So, matter what our life looks like at present do not loose heart. Follow God. He will fulfill His good purposes in our lives too.

God’s favour:

Ruth tells Naomi “Let me go to the fields and pick up the left-over grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Of all the fields God leads her to the field of Boaz who is one of their kinsman-redeemers, as he is a relative of her father-in-law. We see how she finds favor in his eyes. And he blesses her for her loyalty to her mother in law Ruth 2:12 “May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly reward by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Indeed, the Lord’s blessings overflow in her life and she is in the lineage of Jesus. Psalm 9:10 “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord have never forsaken those who seek you.’

Our Redeemer:

Boaz redeems the life of Ruth, a poor childless widow. So, he becomes her kinsman redeemer This is a sort of a shadow of the real redemption story of mankind through Jesus Christ our Lord. Luke 1:68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel because he has come and has redeemed his people.” Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Let us also choose God like Ruth did.  But let us remember it is God who loved us first, redeemed us and has made us His own. So, when we come in faith He will provide and lead us in the best plan He has for our lives.

Memory Verse

Hebrews 10: 36

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”

GOD BLESS