RUTH
by Joyce Carr Stedelbauer
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RUTH
War and famine ravaged the land but God did not abandon
His people.
Some stayed and others fled only to return, humbled,
needy, broken in spirit.
Naomi was one of these as was her faithful daughter-in-
law. Little did they know that God would bless them with unusual
privilege. Under a star-struck sky Ruth obediently sought Boaz as
her “kinsman redeemer.” God assuaged the bitterness of Naomi’s
grandmother's heart and laid a baby boy on her breast to be the pro-
genitor of the Messiah … every Jewish mother’s dream of joy to
mother such a son! But the mother, Ruth, was a foreigner, a
Moabite, a Gentile.
Was there to be room at the Cross for the foreigner, a
Moabite, a Gentile, to kneel in repentance? Ruth would declare it is
so, for she became the grandmother of King David because of her
marriage to Boaz in the Divine red line of Judah, son of Jacob
whom God named Israel.
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Dear Ruth,
you are often quoted
at weddings and anniversaries
of the heart, I’ve noted.
Wither thou goest, I will go.
Where thou lodgest, I will lodge.
Thy people shall be my people,
thy God, my God.
A pledge given freely
from your young spirit,
spoken not to husband, already dead,
but to a grief-stricken mother-in-law –
like wheat struck flat by hard rain –
in spite of what she said.
You were irresistibly drawn to her
homeland, not knowing where it led,
trusting in the God above all gods,
following in a path you could not see
through tear washed eyes,
but obediently.
Instructed in the widow’s way,
permission to glean harvested fields,
gathering grain left behind.
Meeting the kindly master, provider,
protected at his feet until due time
when he proclaimed his love for you.
Respecting the ancient tradition
to witnesses – he drew off his shoe,
and became your kinsman redeemer,
a picture of what Messiah would do.
Boaz claimed you for his very own,
blessed to be his wife and mother of his son.
He loved you and your love in turn
produced a memorable genealogy.
Your heart joyfully burned to be
grandmother of David, Israel’s King;
progenitor of the Messiah, whose
praises the whole world will sing!
(RUTH)
Used with permission by Joyce Carr Stedelbauer from her book “Have You Seen The Star?”
Tate Publishing, LLC
127 East Trade Center Terrace
Mustang, Oklahoma 73064
www.tatepublishing.com
TODAY's Thought: Daily Devotional 
