THE INFLUENCE OF RUTH

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Ruth and Naomi

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“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” Psalm 37:4-5

David the king of Israel wrote these words. His grandmother was Ruth, a native of Moab. The four chapter short story of Ruth is sandwiched between the books of Judges and I Samuel in the Old Testament.

As the story goes, Elimelech and his wife Naomi were part of the Israeli tribe of Judah. They lived in Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread”. In this region a famine occurred and crops wouldn’t grow. It became so bad, the couple decided to move for a while to a place not experiencing drought and famine. They took their family of two boys to neighboring Moab. Today, we might call them refugees. They now had food to eat, but something happened and Elimelech died. The boys grew up and married Moabite women. Then, oddly, the two sons died also, leaving three widows with no means of support.

After living in Moab ten years, Naomi learned God had given her homeland bread again. She was ready to leave this place and return to Bethlehem. It was beginning to look like coming to Moab might not have been the best idea. BUT GOD is always up to something good. At the very time things looked the most bleak, God was at work.

One of Naomi’s daughters-in-law, Orpah, reluctantly agreed to part ways with her and remain in Moab. However, Naomi’s other daughter-in-law, Ruth, seemed to come alive at the prospect of leaving her own heritage behind. She was eager to move to Israel to be with Naomi and become an Israeli citizen. She wanted Naomi’s God to be hers also.

What can we learn from Ruth? She looked beyond the immediate. She could have stayed in Moab and returned to her mother. To find fulfillment, Ruth gave up her citizenship in Moab. In exchange for this earthly treasure, God gave her His heavenly treasure. Upon arriving in Bethlehem with Naomi, Ruth chose to pursue a positive outlook. She sought to help out and found something to do. Crops were being harvested, and Ruth went to the field to get some food for the two of them to eat. She was not afraid of hard work. She did what she could to improve their situation. Ruth was submissive and respectful to authority, both in the field picking barley, corn and wheat, as well as following Naomi’s instructions to her.

The happy result was Ruth ended up married to the landowner in whose field she picked. She and her husband had a son, who was the father of David the king. So Ruth became David’s grandmother. A number of years later, Jesus was born of this same bloodline of Judah, in the same town where Elimelech and his family lived, Bethlehem.

What can we take away from this story of Ruth? How do you get what you want? When the acceptable methods of getting what you want aren’t working, do you pitch a fit? Cry? Threaten? Intimidate? God has a formula. “Delight (be soft or pliable) thyself in the LORD (the self-existent or eternal; Jehovah); and He shall give (add, bestow, pour) thee the desires (a request, desire, petition) of thine heart (feelings, the will and even the intellect; the center of anything). Commit (remove, roll together, trust, seek occasion) thy way unto the LORD; trust (be confident or sure, be bold, put confidence, make to hope) also in Him; and He shall bring (come to pass, to do or make) it to pass.” Psalm 37:4-5

In the days when Elimelech, Naomi and Ruth lived, stories were passed down orally from one generation to another. Upon considering this, I am wondering if David was aware or familiar with his grandmother’s background. These verses David wrote sound like he had done some reflecting on how his grandmother left behind her Moabite background and chose to become an Israelite, trusting God to lead her. As we reflect further, Solomon, David’s son, said something similar: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

What we do today matters. Other folks are watching and listening to what we do and say. May we all seek to have a good influence on those around us. Jeremiah 29:11-13 states, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.” We all have an influence on others. Let us strive to be a good one.

May God add to you His peace in this season of your life.

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About Shirley Logsdon

I am the only child of Christian parents who wanted me to know God personally as they did. One night during church we watched a movie depicting a family in their home accepting Jesus as their personal Savior. I was nine and realized then my desire to make Jesus my personal Savior. With the full support of my parents, I met with the pastor and prayed to receive Christ. A few years later, several of us around the same age began classes for our confirmation to become church members. The privilege of taking communion was a special time for me. . During my teenage years I was outwardly complacent, but was inwardly rebellious. I developed the nasty habit of disrupting harmony in the household by nitpicking at anything and everything. A preacher came to hold revival services at my dad’s church and nailed me silently with looks. This helped me tremendously. I turned a corner and began to respect and obey my parents in attitude and actions. I survived these years through prayer (mine, my parents and friends). The love and tenacity of my parents and God’s grace got me through these years of upheaval. I readily identify with David the Psalmist when he said in Psalm 25:7, “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to Thy mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.” Because my parents provided a stable home life for me, when I went to college my Christian values remained intact. After completing my education in 1979, I started working. For a while, I worked at temp agencies, then I did odd jobs. I settled down in a secretarial position in 1986 working for a firm specializing in retirement plan administration. In 2007, I started working for a law firm, eventually becoming a knowledge management assistant in their law library, helping to alert attorneys to new business opportunities. I am a productive citizen of my country in large part because my parents prayed for me and made clear by word and example what they expected of me. I am extremely grateful to God for them. John 15:5 is my life verse: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” I am confronted with this realization every day I live, and it helps keep me on the straight and narrow path. I met my future husband at church. After a few years of our two families getting acquainted, he and I started courting. We married at the church where we met, in the presence of many relatives and friends. We have been married for 29 years. My hobbies are reading, cooking, and canning or freezing what my beloved husband grows in the garden. Also, I thoroughly enjoy writing. While my writing has included poems, most of my writing has been letters to family and friends. I like to share my faith when I write and am fond of adding a Bible verse or two to help focus on the source of our life. Since I am now retired after working 38 years, I can concentrate on keeping up with birthdays. Something else I enjoy is studying the Bible, often with others. Blogging is a new form of writing for me. I am getting my feet wet and I’m beginning to enjoy the experience.

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