The first series in Avenue Kids was intended to teach the children to view the entirety of Scripture as a contiguous unit, one big story, about God. We covered the keys parts of the story (creation, fall, promise, redemption, and restoration) and are now moving on to book studies. It is essential to walk through stories from beginning to end because, if we don’t, we miss vital context clues and may even misinterpret the point of the passage we are studying. (Think of starting a book in the middle and trying to figure out what is going on.)
I have always loved the book of Ruth. It tells a story that starts off very bleak. But amid all that darkness, God is working, not only to bless the main characters but to provide a savior for all people through their family line. As much as we may want to shield our children from misfortune, trials and trouble are a part of life. We can’t avoid them, but we can teach our children to trust that God is faithful and working, even when things look their darkest. We can instill in them a sense of trust in the goodness of God, regardless of how bad their situation may end up being.
Even when Bad Things Happen, God is in Control.
One of the many things I become more convinced of the older I get is that life is hard. Pain is an inescapable part of our existence and a problem that we all want answered. The opening of the book of Ruth paints a gut-wrenching picture. First, a family has to leave home because of a famine. They end up in a strange place and settle in. After a while, the patriarch dies, followed by his two sons, leaving mom and her daughters-in-law alone. Now Naomi is in a strange land. She hears that the famine in Israel and over and decided to return along with Ruth and Orpah. (Who aren’t Israelites themselves.)
Everything we see in this story seems to present our protagonists as tragic victims of their circumstances. Verse six of chapter one however plants the seed of God’s sovereignty when it states, “because she(Naomi) had heard in Moab that the LORD had paid attention to his people’s need by providing them food.”1 She decides to head back to Israel in search of better fortune. For the reader, we get a glimpse that even in these dark circumstances, God is still at work.
Ruth faithfulness is a picture of the gospel.
The opening of Ruth presents a critical component for understanding the story as a whole, the setting. In verse one it tells us the period during which the story takes place. We can read that this takes place during the time of judges. The time of the judges was characterized by instability, both in the spiritual and material senses of the word. The Israelites were finally in the promised land. But once they arrive, they turned from God to idols. Thus begins a downward spiritual spiral. Israel forgets God and turns to false gods, God hands them over to their enemies for a time of judgement, they repent, are delivered, and then repeat the cycle.
As Naomi departs from Moab, she provides her two daughters in law with the freedom to stay behind and remarry. If they come with her, she has nothing to offer them. Though Orpah takes the out, Ruth stays behind making a solemn vow. Ruth’s oath is striking because, in it, she is identifying herself not only as a part of Naomi’s family but also a part of her people and religion. She is choosing not only to stick with Naomi through what will most likely be a desperately tricky transition but to join herself to Naomi in unbreakable bonds.
Everything so far has been less than ideal, but throughout the story, God’s sovereign presence has been alluded to. Life often feels like things are spinning out of control, that all we can do is grin and bear it. As Christians, we know that there is One who holds the past, present, and future in his hands and we can trust Him.
Even when Bad Things Happen, God will provide.
Picking up where the previous section left off, Ruth and Naomi are in a bad situation. Although they have safely arrived in Bethlehem, they have no means to provide for themselves. In this culture, unmarried women relied on the men in their immediate family to provide financially, and since no one meets those qualifications, they are destitute. It would seem, though man’s eyes, that they are destined for lives of hunger and poverty.
Chapter two of Ruth highlights God’s sovereignty in a subtle way, in verse 2, we read, “She happened to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family,” Ru 2:3.” Here the author is highlighting the fact that, even though it looks like an accident, Ruth’s finding this field to glean in was anything but that. It “just so happened” that the first place she gleaned was a field owned by Boaz who was a relative of Naomi’s, would look kindly on her, provide for her, and eventually marry her. Through this union would come the line of the Messiah.
As many of you know, my daughter Esther was diagnosed with leukemia last year at 13 months. Among other things, this reminded me that we can’t protect our children from hardship and that life is rarely “fair”. Throughout our mind numbingly long journey to remission, God has been with us and we are blessed,. That being said, I definitely have a different perspective on what it means to teach our kids about suffering than I did a year ago.
It is imperative that we do not downplay how difficult life often is. Our first instinct is often to shield our children and, while this is necessary at a certain point, we do them a disservice if they are not prepared the trials and calamity life will bring. The best way to prepare them is to be real about the depths of pain and suffering they may face but to temper that with the faithfulness of the God that we serve.
- Ruth 1:6 ↩