Day 91: A Redemptive Love Story with Missional Implications

Today we read Ruth 1-4, and Psalm 149 which is in the same days as the judges ruled, it’s during the cycle of sin. Marty Solomon and Brent Billings from the Bema project refer to this as a story about the immigrant, the widow, and the future king. Dr. Mackie describes the book of Ruth as a BIG message in a SHORT story. He describes it as a story about God and how Yahweh restores those who look to Him with hope. This story also describes the great-grandparents of King David, a story that is coming, and this genealogy is going to ultimately lead to Jesus.  Again this story is happening at the same time as all those cycles of violence and drift from the book of Judges, so it isn’t and wasn’t all corrupt and tragic Israelites, there were a few faithful families. Marty Solomon says this family illustrates how a few families listened, remembered, and obeyed as they were putting God on display and being prodigally generous as they cared for the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow. The book of Ruth shows how God is constructing his grand story out of the small, seemingly inconsequential stories of everyday people. 

Resources:

Dr. Mackie, Tim. Ruth: BIG Message in a SHORT Story. The Bible Project.  https://bibleproject.com/articles/ruth-big-message-short-story/ 

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings (July, 2017). A Love Story. Episode 37. https://www.bemadiscipleship.com/37

Credits:

Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.