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A Dedicated Daughter-in-Law - The Word About Women

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The Ministry of Motherhood

  • Feb 25, 2021

The Ministry of Motherhood

Women’s Work

  • Feb 23, 2021

Women’s Work

The Truth About Mary Magdalene

  • Feb 18, 2021

The Truth About Mary Magdalene

The Good News Girls

  • Feb 16, 2021

The Good News Girls

Compassion for Women

  • Feb 11, 2021

Compassion for Women

Distracted with Much Serving

  • Feb 9, 2021

Distracted with Much Serving

No Throwing Stones

  • Feb 4, 2021

No Throwing Stones

She Was a Sinner

  • Feb 2, 2021

She Was a Sinner

The Eternal Thirst Quencher

  • Jan 28, 2021

The Eternal Thirst Quencher

The Laws of Love

  • Jan 26, 2021

The Laws of Love

Follow Him

  • Jan 21, 2021

Follow Him

Daughter, Your Faith Has Healed You

  • Jan 19, 2021

Daughter, Your Faith Has Healed You

In His Service

  • Jan 14, 2021

In His Service

Share in Their Joy

  • Jan 12, 2021

Share in Their Joy

Highly Favored One

  • Jan 7, 2021

Highly Favored One

The Value of a Woman

  • Jan 5, 2021

The Value of a Woman

See You in 2021

  • Nov 20, 2020

See You in 2021

In God’s Hands

  • Nov 19, 2020

In God’s Hands

A Disposable Woman?

  • Nov 17, 2020

A Disposable Woman?

A Bearer of Bad News

  • Nov 12, 2020

A Bearer of Bad News

A Wicked Queen Mother vs A Godly Princess

  • Nov 10, 2020

A Wicked Queen Mother vs A Godly Princess

A Heart for Hospitality

  • Nov 6, 2020

A Heart for Hospitality

The Willing Widow

  • Nov 4, 2020

The Willing Widow

A Wretched Woman

  • Nov 2, 2020

A Wretched Woman

Wicked Women

  • Oct 30, 2020

Wicked Women

Missed Opportunity

  • Oct 28, 2020

Missed Opportunity

How To Spot A Mother

  • Oct 26, 2020

How To Spot A Mother

A Wicked Thing

  • Oct 23, 2020

A Wicked Thing

Grace in the Genealogy

  • Oct 21, 2020

Grace in the Genealogy

Victim or Adulteress?

  • Oct 19, 2020

Victim or Adulteress?

A Relationship Ruined By Resentment

  • Oct 16, 2020

A Relationship Ruined By Resentment

Beauty, Brains, and a Blessing

  • Oct 14, 2020

Beauty, Brains, and a Blessing

Giving Back To God

  • Oct 12, 2020

Giving Back To God

Crimes Against Women

  • Oct 9, 2020

Crimes Against Women

When Women Are His Weakness

  • Oct 7, 2020

When Women Are His Weakness

Raising A Leader

  • Oct 5, 2020

Raising A Leader

A Redeemer

  • Oct 2, 2020

A Redeemer

A Dedicated Daughter-in-Law

  • Sep 30, 2020

A Dedicated Daughter-in-Law

A Woman With a Weapon

  • Sep 28, 2020

A Woman With a Weapon

The Leader of a Nation

  • Sep 25, 2020

The Leader of a Nation

The Faith of an Outsider

  • Sep 23, 2020

The Faith of an Outsider

The Daughters of Zelophehad

  • Sep 21, 2020

The Daughters of Zelophehad

The Prophetess

  • Sep 18, 2020

The Prophetess

A River Rescue

  • Sep 16, 2020

A River Rescue

The Temptress

  • Sep 14, 2020

The Temptress

The Double Standard

  • Sep 11, 2020

The Double Standard

A Daughter Defiled

  • Sep 9, 2020

A Daughter Defiled

Stolen Statues

  • Sep 7, 2020

Stolen Statues

The Unloved Wife

  • Sep 4, 2020

The Unloved Wife

A Meddling Matriarch

  • Sep 2, 2020

A Meddling Matriarch

Beyond Redemption?

  • Aug 31, 2020

Beyond Redemption?

A Salty Warning

  • Aug 28, 2020

A Salty Warning

Oppressed Yet Blessed

  • Aug 26, 2020

Oppressed Yet Blessed

The Mother of a Nation

  • Aug 24, 2020

The Mother of a Nation

The God Who Sees

  • Aug 21, 2020

The God Who Sees

Beautiful but Barren

  • Aug 19, 2020

Beautiful but Barren

Past Messages
BTBAplatform+ShannonLenz
ShannonSep 30, 2020 1:00 pm GMT
A Dedicated Daughter-in-Law

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, but it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Ruth 1:16-18

For context, read all of Ruth 1

In the time when the judges ruled Israel, we read of two unlikely women who played an enormous role in the history of God’s people. Naomi and Ruth. During this time, there was a severe famine in the land, so Naomi’s husband took her and their 2 sons to live in Moab. Remember that the Moabites descended from Lot’s incestuous relationship with his daughter and they often fought with Israel. So they must have been in desperate circumstances to move there. While they were there, Naomi’s sons married Moabite women despite the tense relationship between their two people. One of them was named Ruth. Sadly, during the 10 years that they were in Moab, Naomi’s husband and both of her sons died.

Naomi and her daughters were left as widows without children. In that culture, being a widow was one of the worst things that could happen to a woman. If they couldn’t find someone to help care for them, they would be left destitute.

Naomi encouraged her daughters-in-law to return home to their families and blessed them saying, “May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband” (Ruth 1:9). Orpah, one of the daughters-in-law, was eventually persuaded to return home. But Ruth would not hear of it. She was determined to stay faithfully by her mother-in-law’s side.

Ruth was from the pagan Moabites, and yet in her expression of loyalty to Naomi, she referenced the Hebrew God. She did not just pledge her loyalty to Naomi, she pledged her loyalty to Naomi’s God. As we will see later, this selfless act and this pledge of commitment, was going to be extremely important in the story that God is writing for the salvation of His people.

Ruth returned to Bethlehem with Naomi and yet the hardships that Naomi had endured had gotten to her. In verse 20, we see Naomi tell the other women to call her Mara because “the LORD has made my life very bitter”. In verse 21, she even says that she has returned home “empty”. She was grieving and she undoubtedly felt extreme loss due to the deaths of her husband and sons. And yet, it seems she was overlooking a blessing. God had given her Ruth. A woman whose very name means “friendship”. A name that Ruth was true to. Naomi had suffered great losses, yes, but she was also given a great gift in her daughter-in-law. She did not come back from Moab as empty as she perceived. Plus, God was not finished with her yet. Her story wasn’t over.

Sisters, the WORD about women in the story of Naomi and Ruth is that one of the greatest gifts God gives us is each other. From Ruth, we learn that when we are loyal to those God has put into our lives we can be a tremendous blessing to them. From Naomi, we learn that we shouldn’t get so distraught at the desperate circumstances in our lives that we miss the gifts that God has given us in others. God can work in our desperate circumstance and through our faithfulness for great good.

Reflect
Have you been given the gift of a friend like Ruth whose faithfulness blessed your life? Is there someone in your life that you could be a Ruth to?

Pray
Father, even in the most dire circumstances, you are working. Thank you for the blessing of friends and family that have stood faithfully beside me. Help me to be a loyal friend to those You have placed in my life. Amen.

We look forward to your comments and questions below!

If you want to share this Bible reading plan with friends and family, here is the link:
https://bttb.org/word-about-women

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