[Ruth] Returning to a Covenant Relationshipنموونە

Lost and Found

Have you been lost, or have you lost something valuable to you? Have you experienced being found?

The Book of Ruth is a narrative where the story unfolds through the main characters’ actions. In Ruth, the main characters are Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, with the story's emphasis placed on what happens to Naomi—who is symbolic of the nation of Israel at that time.

Many people live in the cycle of shaking God off, getting into trouble, crying out to God, repenting, coming back to Him, being liberated, and being prospered, just to start all over again.

We see the nation of Israel’s relationship with God is slanted toward the blessings rather than the Blesser through this story. They continually make decisions based on their shrewdness rather than trusting God’s unfailing promises.

Can we relate to this in any way? It is interesting to note that this is a perennial condition that some, if not most of us, still go through. The story of the nation of Israel is similar to our walk with God in many ways.

In the book of Ruth, Naomi and Ruth lived in the time of the judges, when everyone mostly did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6). People repeated the cycle we just described, but on a national level.

Naomi, whose name means “pleasant,” was a Jewish girl who got married and started a family in Bethlehem, a city with a name that means “the house of bread.” There was a famine, and she and her husband Elimelech (“My God is King”), along with their two sons, left Bethlehem and went into the heathen country of Moab (a name that means “washpot” or “the garbage dump”).

Interestingly, they both seem to have substituted God’s house of bread with a garbage dump.

The years went by, and Elimelech died. Then, Naomi’s sons took Moabite wives, Orpah and Ruth. They did this even though the people of Israel were not to have any relationship with the people of Moab.

God had built a special relationship with the people of Israel and had made special promises to them. This relationship, similar to a marriage, is called a covenant. Through it, God had promised the Israelites that they would represent Him, have land, descendants, and blessings forever and that He would live among them. But like in any kind of deal, the Israelites also had a part of fulfilling: to remain faithful to Him.

By leaving the land of Israel, going into Moab, marrying its women, and letting the culture of this idolatrous nation permeate their lives, this family had given their backs to the Lord.

When Naomi’s sons died, she was left empty-handed, with two daughters-in-law to take care of in a foreign country.

Like Naomi, we may sometimes feel we have been left to our own devices. Still, we must understand that God is standing at the limits of His property, scanning the horizon, hoping that we will someday come back home.

When we realize that we had abandoned the Lord and choose to return to Him, He can restore us and bring us back to a better state than before we left. Even if we get lost, whether of our own doing or our circumstances, God’s grace provides a way for us to be found and restored to where we need to be.

When we turn back to the Lord, we exchange what we have lost for being found. That is the most comforting day of our lives.

What have you lost? Have you been found?

The debt has been paid.

The wrong has been forgiven.

Your Father loves you.

Please, come back home.