Lesson Three • Redemption of the Family
Devotion #2: Bitter Sweet
Gary Wright
Have you ever had a tragedy in your family? It is hard to see God’s hand at work in those hard times. Years ago, my sister and her husband went to North Carolina to visit our parents. While they were there, they were involved in a terrible car accident. My sister’s pelvis was broken and she had to spend months in the hospital. Her injuries would eventually cause arthritis, so the doctors suggested they move from Michigan to somewhere with a warmer climate. Even though they really did not want to, they decided to move to North Carolina.
The book of Ruth also starts with a tragedy. Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth become widowed. Naomi does not understand why God would allow this to happen and she does not see any hope for the family. She becomes very bitter and even changes her name to Mara, which means bitter.
The two widows had no way to provide for themselves, so Ruth goes out and picks up barley behind those harvesting, which is called gleaning. Ruth ends up in the field of a man named Boaz, who is Naomi’s deceased husband, Elimelech’s, close relative. Ruth 2:3 says, “So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.”
When Ruth returns home she tells Naomi about Boaz. Naomi lets Ruth know that Boaz is a kinsman redeemer for the family. A kinsman redeemer is a male relative who, according to God’s law, has the responsibility for taking care of family members in trouble, danger, or in need. A kinsman redeemer can also buy back the land of a family member. In this case, if Boaz were to purchase the land of Elimelech, he would have to marry Ruth, and their son would take the name of Ruth’s dead husband and inherit the land to keep it in the family.
Because Naomi loves Ruth, she comes up with a crazy plan to get Boaz and Ruth alone together hoping for marriage. The plan works and Ruth asks Boaz to marry her. Ruth 3:9 records, “He said, ‘Who are you?’ And she answered, ‘I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.’” Boaz agrees to marry Ruth and becomes the kinsman redeemer for the family.
Jesus is our true kinsman redeemer! He bought us out of sin and was the only one worthy to do so. At the beginning of the story, Naomi did not think redemption was possible, but God uses a series of circumstances to redeem the family.
God used the circumstances in my sister’s life in the same way. Because she was in North Carolina, she was able to take care of several family members including our aging parents, who would have been in trouble without her help.
We may not always be able to see the hand of God working in our lives, especially when we are going through hard times, but we can trust that Jesus is there and working.