A Love Story Amid Lunacy
"Your people will be my people and your God my God" Ruth 1:16.

For conscientious Christians, the constant news reports of bloody crimes and unbridled sexual immorality can leave us feeling like the world is in the express lane to hell. Wouldn't it be great if God had promised us that His mission could still succeed amid such moral lunacy? He did! In the Book of Ruth.

To fully grasp the mission implications of Ruth, you first need to read the last three chapters of Judges--if you can stomach them. Judges 19-21 report arguably the most disgusting series of events in the Bible. They include:

• Total disregard of Middle Eastern hospitality to travelers
• Gang rape
• Murder
• Mutilation
• Civil war
• Mass kidnappings
• Repeated treatment of women as chattel

Judges concludes stating, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit" (21:25). And what those people considered fit was thoroughly revolting! We surely wouldn't want to be living in those days. They sound too much like our own.

Depressed by the moral gloom of Judges 19-21, we turn the page of our Bibles and are surprised by a love story. Here we find:

• Naomi (meaning "pleasant"), a mother-in-law with such loving integrity that she draws Ruth to a living faith in the living God.
• Mara (meaning "bitter"), the nickname Naomi assumes when, amid hard times, she concludes God has abandoned her.
• Ruth, a Gentile convert to Judaism, who faithfully stands by her mother-in-law and labors diligently until their life is no longer bitter.
• Boaz, a godly man, who treats Ruth with compassion and redeems the two women from poverty.
• Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth, whose godly parenting would set the stage for the coming of King David three generations later.

So what mission promises are implied in the Book of Ruth?

1. A Gentile is welcomed into the lineage of the Messiah, emphasizing His role as the Redeemer of all peoples.
2. Women have a significant role to play in God's mission, sometimes better than seven sons (Ruth 4:15).
3. When the headlines are declaring that all hell is breaking loose, God is still working in the lives of common believers like us.
4. The Lord will use our day-to-day integrity, diligence and faithfulness to turn people from bitterness to joy.
5. Godly households prepare future godly generations who can have a national impact.

This love story amid lunacy shines like a candle amid a dark storm. Each of our families can be such a candle too.

1. When it's dark, sit at your kitchen table with the lights out. Light one candle and read Ruth 1. Light a second candle for Ruth 2 and so on.
2. Note each episode of integrity, as well as the good resulting from it.
3. Compare Ruth to Matt. 5:14-16 and Phil. 2:14-16.
   4. Review the five mission promises listed above. How is God still working in similar ways today?