The Story of Ruth: Let's Hear if For the Boy (Redeemed Part 2)

Ya'll I am a sucker for 80's & 90's music.  Oh my gosh, I just love it so much. I mean they don't make it like that anymore (for the sake of sounding really old).  I mean old school Whitney, Janet, NKOTB you know who you are out there. You're about to go dust off your favorite mix tape and jam to the good stuff. Go on girl, I'm not gonna judge. Well, 1984 brought one of my fav's in, Let's Hear it For the Boy off the hit movie Footloose.  I mean if that doesn't get your toes tappin', you're dead!  So what does this have to do with the final installment of our Ruth study.  Start by reading Ruth chapter 4 if you haven't already.  We have journeyed with our two gals Ruth and Naomi to the end. We have seen them loose their family and make a scary, lonely trek to Bethlehem. Ruth began to provide for herself and her mother-in-law by working in the fields where she caught the eye of Boaz.  At the leading of Naomi, Ruth went to Boaz to present herself and her estate to be redeemed by either him or the other guy in line.  (see the chapter 3 post)  Now we are caught up!

Boaz literally comes to the rescue here in chapter 4, but not before he does the right thing.  In the first part of chapter 4 we read of Boaz going to the next man in line to be the kinsman redeemer for Ruth. To inherit her land with her along with it (ladies can you imagine loosing your husband and then being passed down the line till someone takes you. Whew, I'm glad we don't do that anymore!) Boaz probably could have gotten away with marrying Ruth and gaining her and Naomi's land.  It didn't seem like anyone much cared about these two ladies.  However, Boaz was a good man and he was led to do right by Ruth but also do right by the law.  So we see in the middle of the chapter a funny transaction of the land, the inheritance and the taking off of a shoe (part of the custom of the times, again glad we don't do this nowadays!).

So our sweet Ruth becomes the wife of a good man. She is redeemed but so is our girl Naomi.  Naomi began with us a bitter woman, she even named herself Mara for all her pain and anguish.  We end the book of Ruth and Naomi has found great joy.  She has a family again, God has provided the desires of her heart through her love of Ruth and Ruth's love of her.  What a sweet story this is.  Cue the 80's theme music, all is right with the world, Boaz redeemed her and Ruth's name resides in the line of Jesus.  Don't skip over the genealogy stuff at the end guys, it is a bunch of boring names but it's an important bunch of names. This is the line of David, the lineage of our Savior.  So special!

So, we close the Book of Ruth with a great ending, redemption has happened and we are setting up for the coming of Christ.  It all points to OUR need for redemption OUR need for a Savior.  The first time I read the book of Ruth it blew me away, this time it blew me away again!  Go back and read books of the Bible you haven't read in a while, you will see them in a different light and learn new things each time I PROMISE!

I also promised an announcement to my friends and readers at the end of this study.  No i'm not pregnant and right now I'm saying praise the Lord for that, we have our hands full already! However, I am birthing a new baby of sorts.  God has led me to pursue more writing, more mentoring, more encouraging women and families.  So, there will be a new blog and new website where Family, Faith and Food will all come together around the table at Ferrell Farms.  Beautifully Made will be fused into a whole new site. More details to come, it is currently and actively under construction!  Follow me on social media to see all the new things as they come in!

For now, have a wonderful week following hard after God. My prayer for myself is Lord increase my Faith, feel free to join me in that adventure!  This week don't' forget you are a daughter to the King BEAUTIFULLY, FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY MADE!  Redeemed in grace and love!

Much Love,
Chrystan
PS- Let's here it for the boy (I couldn't resist!):

The Story of Ruth: Chapter 1 Your Tribe

Let's face it family can be complicated.  Mostly made up of a group of people randomly thrown together through marriage and the unlikely combination of DNA and genes that intertwine them.  Family, it's a whole thing right?  My family has some very interesting dynamics.  I have the Fuller side who are pretty much all extroverted (except my step-mom bless her heart she's stuck with all of us) and some of whom are extroverted introverts which is like a real thing and very complicated. The Fuller side brought me to Jesus.  Then I have the Foster side, which is my mom's side.  We are all pretty much sassy in our own right over on the Foster fence.  Full of strong, fierce women, the Foster side has fought hard to get their family where it is today.  They have taught me how to be strong, stand up and stand in for my family.  The Foster side also brings in my Grandaddy who passed away this year.  He was one of my favorite people.  The Foster side taught me that family is a person who walks in the front door.  There are no thick blood lines there are no walls up, just a welcome hug and sweet tea in your hand.  This is why I would say that my family has become more of a tribe than a family.  We are missed matched, some are here by marriage, some are here because they don't have a family so they have ours, some are here through a series of strange happenings that I don't even know the details to but I still call them aunts, uncles or grannies.  The Ferrell's bring a beautiful dynamic of a more quiet, serving support which has taught me so much. I wouldn't have my family any other way.

This is where we find Ruth in the Old Testament of the Bible as we launch into our 2 week study of our sister Ruth (take a minute to read Ruth Chapter 1). A brief intro of Ruth will tell us that she basically enters the story a destitute widow of the wrong kind of people. Ruth was a Moabite and had married outside of her tribe.  When we meet her we are walking into her tragedy immediately.  She has lost her father in law, brother in law and husband one right after the other.  Leaving the women with no men, which back in these days was a really big deal.  Through this tragedy we meet Ruth's mother in law, Naomi.  Naomi really has taken the hardest blow here. She has basically had to walk through the death of her entire family at this point. Shes in a foreign country with two sad, scared little girls Ruth and Orpah.  This is where we see Ruth make family her tribe.  In verses 10-14 we hear Naomi telling the girls she basically has nothing to offer them and she urges them to go back to their people.  Which really would leave Naomi completely alone, but she is wanting the best for them. Right here is where we find some of the most beautiful verses in the Old Testament (personal opinion)

16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die and there I will be buried.  May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me"

She is pledging her life to Naomi no matter what that means to her!  In our society mother in laws get such a bad wrap.  Ladies, I love my mother in law. Linda Ferrell is the kindest most loving woman.  I am so blessed and happy to be in her tribe. Here we see, Ruth pledging to leave all opportunity to re-marry and to have safety and provision in order to stay with Naomi.  We also just saw a HUGE thing happen to Ruth.  She pledges her life to God, even though she doesn't know yet exactly what that means at this time. When she pledges her life to Naomi she also chooses to follow her God, which just so happens to be the God of the Universe. Coincidence, I think not.  This decision will not only change Ruth's life on Earth for the better, which we will see play out through the next few chapters, but her name ends up in the lineage of Jesus and she gets to spend eternity in Heaven. Huge decision here for her.

Family, it's a whole thing right?  I didn't get to talk about the Jacobs side of my family.  Grandma Nancy is my sons grandma.  She loves him with the fire of a thousand suns, rightfully so, he is her grandson. The flip side of that coin is she loves me and my boys and my husband.  She treats us as her family and she doesn't have to.  She gives my kids baths, she buys us Christmas presents, she feeds us and sometimes we stay at her house and her at ours. She is in our tribe by choice.

You see family is who you fight for. It's who you stick with.  Naomi and Ruth maybe didn't see eye to eye on all the things.  They probably voted for different presidents in the last election.  Naomi likely wanted Ruth to have some babies, maybe that was sore spot. However, here in just the first chapter we see them choose each other no matter what.  They became for each other and because of that love relationship God was glorified and their lives were blessed.

What's your tribe look like?  Are you harboring bad feelings for your mother-in-law or that brother that stepped on your toes the last family gathering?  Let's decide that we are going to fight for the family unit again.  Let's fight for our tribes and stop letting the world break them apart over silly things like who makes the jello mold this year at Thanksgiving. Satan hates family. He was to destroy it.  Lets shout out loud, where you go I will go, your people will be my people. Love on your mother in law today and that tricky brother. Grow your tribe in love!

Today is a beautiful day for restoration, go restore those hurts so you can walk together down the road to the next chapter, BEAUTIFULLY MADE and all!

Much Love,
Chrystan

See you in a few days for Ruth Chapter 2, where we meet Ruth's new man!!!