Jitterbugging for Jesus

“Sometimes God chooses people to achieve his purposes that our theology says he should not choose.”

—- Two quotable quotes from the texts below . . . Read on for your sip of nourishing noon wine.

NOON WINE TO SUSTAIN YOU IN YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

Here are two takes on Ruth 1:1–18, from Bible Max: Journeys with God, published by Scripture Union.

Radical love: A glimmer of hope
In her sorrow Naomi did not notice the first glimmer of hope in her life – the one who, in the providence of God, would be the means of her salvation: Ruth.

Here’s the first thing to notice – she was not even an Israelite, one of God’s elect people. She was a foreigner from a nation that was often an enemy of Israel. Sometimes God chooses people to achieve his purposes that our theology says he should not choose. But God is God and he can use who he likes.

Unexpected love
We immediately see that Ruth breaks the stereotypical picture that the readers of the book may well have had about Moabites. Ruth’s devotion to her mother-in-law goes well beyond the call of duty. It illustrates what the Bible calls chesed – a loving kindness, graciousness and loyalty that goes the extra mile.

If you want to know what true love looks like, then look at Ruth. She is willing to forsake her own home, her own parents and friends, her own traditions and religion for the sake of this woman. Phyllis Tribble wrote:

‘Ruth stands alone; she possesses nothing . . . she lives and chooses without a support group and she knows that the fruit of her decision may well be the emptiness of rejection, indeed of death. Consequently, not even Abraham’s leap of faith surpasses this decision of Ruth’s …
Not only has Ruth broken with family, country and faith, but she has also reversed sexual allegiance. A young woman has committed herself to the life of an old woman rather than the search for a husband … One female has chosen another female in a world where life depends upon men. There is no more radical decision in all the memories of Israel.’1

Reflection by Robin Parry
1 Phyllis Tribble, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, Fortress, 19
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And then there’s this reflection on Ruth from Helen Warnock: Overview of Ruth
The story of Ruth is often thought of as the ‘love story’ of the Old Testament – but it’s so much more. This is the journey of two women and one man whose decisions not only leave an indelible imprint on their own lives, but whose choices also had consequences which have rippled on to affect our own lives today.

The great story of God sweeps through the Bible, drawing people, families and nations into relationship with God and into his great story (Ruth would become the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus himself). In the book of Ruth, we come down to earth and see one displaced family who have already ‘survived’ heartache most of us can barely imagine.

Ruth’s story is situated in the time of the judges, during a period of peace between Israel and Moab. The repeated phrase, ‘Everyone did as he saw fit’, sums up this period (Judges 17:6; 21:25).

The picture is of a society that abandons God – yet God never abandons his people. Again and again, they forget God and turn to the local Canaanite gods. Again and again, they are attacked by enemies and cry out to God.

There is deliverance and peace for a while until the people turn away from God again. Hopelessness, godlessness, war and poverty were taking their inevitable toll. It was a hard and difficult time (Ruth 1:1).

Whilst Judges gives the big picture, the book of Ruth shows God at work in the lives of particular individuals to bring about his purposes. It’s not just a story of physical journeys but also a journey of growth – from bitterness (Ruth 1:20) to blessing (Ruth 4:14).

Amidst the uncertainty of Ruth’s journey, there is the sense of God being in control.