Redemption Road: When God Restores What You Lost (Part 1)Shembull

Ruth: Restoration Starts With a Small Step

We spent the first four days of this series exploring redemption through the story of Joseph. Let’s look at someone else whose life modeled God’s restoration.

When we first meet Ruth, she is a young widow at a crossroads in her life. She is dealing with compounded grief following the deaths of her husband, father-in-law, and brother-in-law. Early on, the first and only bright spot we see for Ruth is that she is not alone. She and her sister-in-law, Orpah, must decide whether to stay with their mother-in-law, Naomi, or pursue a second chance at life and love. The situation seems otherwise hopeless, and Naomi strongly encourages her daughters-in-law to leave her. Orpah follows Naomi’s suggestion, but Ruth does not. In a small step of honor, she decides that her loyalty would outweigh her comfort.

At this juncture, we can imagine that Ruth is contemplating real questions. Is she making the right decision? Would she experience love again? Should she relocate and start life over? Is she foolish for trying to be loyal to an aging widow when she has her own issues to deal with? Like Joseph, Ruth was in desperate need of a redemption story. Also, like with Joseph, we learn that when God restores, He gives us well beyond what we expect.

Ruth teaches us that God honors obedience and fidelity as a catalyst for restoration. Her story is noted because it illustrates commitment—Ruth to Naomi, Boaz to Ruth, and God to His people. In Ruth 1:16-18, she makes a promise to her mother-in-law that sets her restoration process in motion. As God would have it, while Ruth positioned herself to serve someone else, she ended up receiving the blessing that forever changed her life, legacy, and lineage.

In the next part of our series, we will take a closer look at how Ruth goes from losing nearly everything to being restored to a place of dignity and influence.

Perhaps like her, you, too, have lost something that can never be replaced, or someone so close that it has left a huge hole in your heart. Wherever you are, I encourage you to ask God to help you hear and see with filters of grace. Like He did with Joseph and Ruth, He gives us small but deliberate opportunities that demand our obedience. What we do in those steps will shape what the rest of our journey looks like.

In the next part of our series, we will look at how God redeemed Ruth and gave her a second chance at love and happiness. We will also look at Job, another person whose circumstances were bleak until God stepped in.

Prayer:

Father, once again, I thank You for Your faithfulness to me. Although it has been difficult to see the full restoration story unfold, I know that You have my best interest in mind. Thank You for the examples that You have given us. When I start to doubt that You can do for me what You did for them, please help my unbelief. I confess that I am totally reliant on You, and I stand in expectation of how You will turn my circumstances around.