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Ruth, A Daughter with Integrity
What kind of woman do you think you are? Does your life compare to Ruth? Would you describe yourself as a daughter with integrity toward Jesus?
We compare ourselves to others to much these days. How we deal with mother. How we deal with children. How we deal with illegals. How we deal with ethnic backgrounds. We are stressed out by these dealings. Let’s see how did Ruth dealt with all of this?
Our Biblical Ground Work: Ruth
Ruth comes onto the scene as the wife of one of Naomi’s sons. He dies and his brother dies as well. Ruth is a young widow living with another young widow and her widowed mother-in-law. There is no men left and in those days men were the bread winners.
It is repeated to us over and over again that Ruth is a Moabite. A foreigner to the people of Israel. A relative of the people of Israel through Lot but a foreigner all the same. A relative of Naomi through marriage but nonetheless a foreigner.
Naomi was brought to Moab by her husband but is going home to Bethlehem without him. Ruth was born in Moab, but linked to Bethlehem through her husband family. She chose to remain linked to Bethlehem through her mother-in-law and she goes with Naomi to live in Bethlehem as a foreigner.
Ruth and Naomi need food so Ruth goes to glean in the fields. She is noticed because Boaz is supposed to notice her. He tells her to stay and work with his women and men so she does. We are told she works hard to provide for herself and her mother-in-law. She is mentored about Israelite living by her mother-in-law and soon lands herself a husband.
She is not only a foreign woman added to the lineage of her father-in-law’s family but into the lineage of king David and Jesus. Her whole identity was transformed for us with this story.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: If your whole identity is based in your integrity, your story can be as brilliant as Ruth’s.
On the surface it looks like Ruth has lost everything, her husband, her land, her family, her gods. We equate that lose to losing self. Ruth did not lose who she was in the process of serving Naomi. She was being herself. Her story is that of love, friendship, servant-hood and integrity.
We can learn to fill our relationships with integrity and still hang onto self in the process. There is great value in serving people with integrity but we need to place value on them first. All people have value but not always do we value them for the role they play in our lives.
I invite you to come in deeper with me in The Bible Gals community this week as we learn the Biblical Power Tools for valuing our integrity while valuing people.
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Naomi, A Mother of Integrity
Have you ever been in an environment where integrity is the last thing on the administrators mind? It’s a hard place to thrive.
Have you even been in an environment where integrity is the first thing on the administrators mine? It’s a place where you can thrive.
Naomi created such a place. She was the mother of integrity. She created an environment where her daughter-in-law’s united with her to maintain a stable and cohesive home in which to live. Let’s read the story.
Our Biblical Ground Work: Ruth
Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, moved the family to Moab because there was famine in the land of Israel. He died and so did both of Naomi’s sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Her sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. It is at this point, the story really begins for us. Naomi hears that there is provision in Israel again, so she packs up her clothes to leave Moab for Israel.
Her daughter-in-law’s follow her but she becomes realistic with them. She tells them she cannot provide husbands for them and sends them back to their own families. Ruth is determined to stay with Naomi, so they head back to Israel where they are greeted by the women of the Bethlehem. Naomi no longer wants to be called pleasant, she wants them to think she is bitter.
Naomi and Ruth live together with meagre supplements. Ruth gets permission from Naomi to glean in a field for supplies. She ends up gleaning in Boaz’s field and he notices her. As we all know, towns can talk, so he was already aware of who she was but had not met her until this day. He gives her favour and she goes home with much more than Naomi expected. She wants to know whose field Ruth gleaned in. She knows Boaz and his family ties to her dead husband.
Naomi councils Ruth on the rules of asking Boaz to redeem her family name, and she does exactly what Naomi tells her to do. She comes back with more grains and tells Naomi the whole story. Naomi reassures Ruth that Boaz will not stop working on this very day until this matter is solved. Naomi also does not stop working until her family is taken care of by the best people under God.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: Creating an environment of integrity gives your villagers a place of refuge.
As the city on the hill (Matthew 5:14-16) we are surrounded by people (villagers) who look to us for direction about how the Lord works in Christian lives. We are creating an environment that reflects the Lord Jesus Christ and His direction for us. This environment needs to be a safe place for them.
Creating an environment of integrity gives your villagers a safe place they might not have in their own city. They see cohesion among your villagers that is absent with theirs. They feel honoured by everyone and that makes them long to come back. They know you are who you say you are, because you do what you said you’d do. Your villagers love you because of it.
Do you want to know how to be like Naomi?
I invite you to go deeper with me with The Bible Gals this week as we learn the Biblical Power Tools for creating an environment of integrity.
