Ruth 2:1-4:22 ~John 4:43-54 ~ Psalm 105:16-36 ~ Proverbs 14:26-27
Today is the 6th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It’s great to be here with you closing down another week. Our first week in this beautiful month of May is coming to a close. (Not a “clothes,” a “close.”) It is good to spend this time with you around the global campfire that is this community.
We’ve been reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible this week which is what we’ll do today and we kind of got ourselves into the story of Ruth yesterday, this beautiful oasis in the Bible that comes at a time where we’ve been a lot. A lot has happened since we crossed the Jordan and came into the promised land. There has been a lot of defeat, a lot of back and forth, a lot of things that have just gotten messed up, so Ruth comes at a really beautiful time. We will complete the story of Ruth in today’s reading. So Ruth, chapter 2, verse 1 through 4:22 today.
Commentary:
We concluded the book of Ruth today. It is a short story but it’s a beautiful story and, like I said, it’s a breath of fresh air because we’ve been watching people make some pretty colossal mistakes and some really severe repercussions because of them and then this story comes along, and it is like there are still really, really true people with character. It’s lovely the way God shows up in that story.
Ironically those fields that Ruth was gleaning in, Boaz’s fields, those have been historically associated with the same fields that shepherds were using to watch their flocks by night when angels appeared to announce the arrival of the Savior in Bethlehem. That is where this is also taking place. So when you kind of go to some of those shepherd’s fields, because they are still being used, shepherds still are using the hillside there in Bethlehem to watch over their sheep, so when you visit that area, you connect with the Ruth and Boaz and Naomi story as well.
But it is beautiful just the way that Naomi mothers Ruth, right? And just the way Naomi is able to see kind of what is going on here and the opportunity for Ruth to kind of bridge the gap and reunite the family in a strong way because Boaz is being really good to Ruth. And Ruth’s reputation is really, really strong for what she did. I mean, she left her family. She left everything to return with Naomi.
So Naomi gives her instructions. “Take a bath, get all cleaned up, put on some perfume, look like your gorgeous self, put on your best dress and go to the party that celebrates the harvest and watch for Boaz when he goes to sleep.” The interesting thing is it is not “when he has had a little to drink and gets sleepy and he lays down, then go try to hook up with him, see if there is any spark between you guys.” It is not like that. It is all in proper order. Go and lay at his feet, right? Don’t go cuddle up next to him, go lay at his feet. He’ll understand what you’re saying. You’re saying that you are an available woman and he’ll know what to do and he’ll tell you what to do.
And he does. When Ruth gets home and tells Naomi this story, you can just see the smile on her face. “Don’t worry. Just hang out. He will not leave this matter undone today.” And he doesn’t. And through their union, Ruth is saved, Naomi is saved, Boaz is beyond happy, for he has just gotten a beautiful wife. Through their union comes this child, a grandchild to Naomi that’s like a child to her because he is as if he was the child of her son. And so new life has come and Naomi’s heart if filled. She came back to Bethlehem bitter, abandoned, feeling that way, and alone and in a short amount of time there is this new life and through this new life, this baby that is born will be the grandfather of King David who we will be getting to know very soon and getting to know well.
So we come to this story and realize that doing things right is doing things right, doing things with honor and character and integrity, all of the things that the Proverbs continue to pound into us every day, not because they are trying to force us into doing things we don’t want to do, but because they are the wisdom of the ages. This is how you live if you want to live successfully in this world.
We kind of see the whole thing play out before our eyes in the book of Ruth. It works. To have integrity works. To have character works. It’s a slower build. We’re so used to instant gratification. In whatever way we can get it, we want things now. Even if we have to work hard, we just want to work hard for a little while. We don’t want to take the long view, but the Bible takes the long view on everything. So integrity, character, discipline, these things, they take time to build, to build up inside ourselves and then to build up the reverberations in our world and in our lives. But it is worth it because it is real. It is solid. It is not this momentary gratification that just burns away really quick no matter what it is. This is real.
So may we apply the book of Ruth, the story of Ruth to our own lives and let it serve as a reminder that it is worth doing things right, even though that takes longer, even though that may be harder sometimes, even though it may be more work. We’re building something real, something that lasts, something that is true and that changes us.
Prayer
Father, thank you for such a beautiful story, such a beautiful rescue, the way that you rescued this woman and her daughter-in-law and brought through them King David and through the line of David you came, you chose to come. So thank you for this story and this reminder. But we ask that you help us by the power of your Holy Spirit to apply this to our own lives, that it is worth it to be people of character, to be people who are true, to be people who have integrity, to be people who represent and live within your kingdom honorably, as ambassadors that can hold their heads up high. Help us, Jesus. We ask in your name, amen.
Announcements
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hi, this is Pastor Chris from the Live Free or Die State. A theme I’ve been hearing in the prayer requests lately is people who are absolutely overwhelmed and not knowing which way to turn next. Let me tell you a story of something that happened to me, some advice that was given to me by an Army drill sergeant at Fort Dix, NJ. Part of the basic training experience is the obstacle course. We were being shown where we were to run and every obstacle was more scary then the one before. And then we were told that we would be doing this at night with gunfire going on over our heads. As everybody there started to freak out, our drill sergeant said, “The way you do this is you take on the obstacle that is in front of you right now. Don’t think about the ones that are ahead, just the one right now. And when you’re done with this one, you can worry about the next. And besides that, I will be ahead of you. Follow me.” And Jesus is saying the same thing to all of you who are overwhelmed, to just take on the obstacle that is in front of you. Don’t worry about the one that is next just yet. And follow Jesus, he will lead you through. I got through that obstacle course at Fort Dix, NJ and lived to tell the tale and following Jesus, we will do the same. Thanks. God bless you all. Bye-bye.
Heavenly Father, I come before you today. I am praying for Daniel Johnson, Jr., and his family. Heavenly Father, I’m so sorry for the death of his sister. I pray that she is with you now and you have your arms wrapped around her and are just comforting her. I pray for Daniel Johnson, Jr., and his entire family. His stepmother, the children. Please comfort them at this time, Father. Please give them direction in the way they need to go. Please help them to support one another and help their friends around them to also support them and help them in any way that they need help right now. This is such a great and devastating loss right now and so surprising to the entire family. Please bless them, Father, and keep them in your heart. Annette, A., I am still praying for your son Alex. May he be blessed. May his foot be healed and may he come out of jail very, very soon and may God find him in his heart. Brian, Jill, the entire Hardin family, everyone behind the scenes at the DAB, I pray for you each and every day. Thank you so much for this ministry. Thank you for the entire community at the Daily Audio Bible. We are so blessed to have one another and to pray for one another. Thank you all for your prayers. This is Kim from California. God bless you all.
Hello. My name is Beatrice B. and I’m a first-time caller. I have been listening for a year and five months. I have a prayer request. First of all, I just want to thank God for giving me the courage to call in. I have a prayer request for my marriage. I’ve been married for 30 years. Twenty years of drug addiction in this marriage with myself and my husband, alcohol, the partying life. We gave our life to the Lord 10 years now. My husband went back to drinking. He lost his oldest daughter in a previous marriage through a car accident, drunk driver, and he went back to drinking and my prayer request is I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be in this marriage any longer because of verbal abuse while he’s intoxicated. I’m tired of living that way. I just need your prayers. I don’t know what to do. I’ve been married to him for 30 years. Just a lot of issues. When he drinks, he’s a different person. The next day it is like nothing, sweet as can be. His name is Daniel. And I thank God he’s done so many miracles in my life. I’m a kidney transplant patient for five years. I have a lot of health issues because of the strong medications that I take. But I just need prayers for my marriage. I feel like I’m stuck in this marriage. I don’t…
Hey all. It’s Miguel from California. I just got done listening earlier today to the Community Prayer and the Spirit has given me a word that I believe is for this group. I do feel the weight of the amount of desperation that is in this group for God to move and the word is in Matthew 14. It is the story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter walking on the water towards Jesus. This word here that I hear is a word of vision. What I’m talking about with vision is our eyes have the ability to look in one direction. I know you have the ability to cross your eyes, but then you’re out of focus. But you only have the ability to look in one direction and in verse 30 it says that Peter, he saw the wind and he was afraid. See, he looked away from Jesus. He for that moment looked at the storm, looked at the wind, looked at the waves. It was at that moment that he began sinking. Not that the waves weren’t there, not that the storm wasn’t there, but he began sinking when he lost his focus, when his vision went away from Jesus. Then came the cry, “Lord, save me.” I just want us to go ahead and stop right there and pray. Father God, Lord Jesus, I pray for this group, the Daily Audio Bible community. God, there are so many that are crying out in so many different ways. The phrase is the same. “Lord, save me.” Lord, save the people that are crying out in prayer. God, I see in the very next verse that Jesus, you immediately reached out your hand and caught Peter. So I ask Jesus, that you reach out and catch the people that are crying out, “Lord, save me.” So many people have cried out about broken marriages.
Hey DAB listeners. This is Jocelyn from Michigan. I just wanted to call and ask for prayer. I am a brand new nurse. I’m working here in the ER and I’m finding that I absolutely love where God has placed me but ask for prayer because many of the patients who come in are not in their right mind and a lot of them, the other night, one of them actually was cursing all of the staff and hitting. This is not an uncommon thing that happens and sometimes it feels very discouraging and like, myself included, we are trying to help these people but yet we get cursed for doing so. It made me think of how this is how we treat God. It is the feeling of being the one who is trying to help and then being yelled at and screamed at and hit sometimes. It just really made me think of how maybe this is how God feels. I ask for your guys’ prayers for my eyes to be open, for my heart to have peace and love and compassion for people who I normally wouldn’t be able to love. So I appreciate you guys. I love you so much and I hope that you have a wonderful evening whatever you’re doing. Thank you.