“In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.”
Exodus 15:13
Dirt, dust, and discouragement. Tears of sorrow, racing each other down her face, wetting the collar of her dress. The path ahead, long and desolate. Each step filled with anguish and resentment.
Her mind overwhelmed with wonder, “How can this be? How did life get to be so hard. Where did my young, naive hope go? Where did my confidence disappear to? God used to seem so good. Where did he go? I was once his child, but now I am bitter. Nothing but bitter.”
Where does her help come from?
This woman fled for food but left the bread of life behind. She left her own inheritance for a new one, merely to return without one. She left death to find life but found only death. When Naomi left Bethlehem, she withdrew from the nation of her God. She left the promised land for a land without promise.
Where does her help come from?
In the background, another story is unfolding. A man and a woman, a savior, and a servant. The woman, a Moabite and a traitor by blood. The man, a redeemer and a friend.
The woman walks on the same dirty, dusty, road of discouragement that Naomi walks, yet hope guides her with each step. Something pulls her through the unknown and the unfamiliar. Something tugs at her heart.
Her mind overwhelmed with the commitment she just made, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” She could have chosen her family and her childhood home; instead, she chose a different god. She chose the God.
When Ruth left Moab, she walked towards God. She left a land without promise for the Promised Land. A choice that changed history.
Walking towards a land she does not belong to, where does her help come from?
A savior, a Provider, a kinsman redeemer. One who brings those in who have been rejected and redeems. One who gives back what was lost. One who heals the broken hearted and restores the wounded. One who offers new life.
In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.
Exodus 15:13
Where does her help come from?
You, Lord, are her Kinsman Redeemer, her Savior, and her King. There is no one else that help comes from. You turned bitterness into wine and included an excluded nation in your genealogy. You woo and pursue to reconcile and restore.
You, Lord, are where our help comes from.
