"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This
is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.
The message of Ruth is so simple it hardly deserves a blog post. And yet its so marvelous. God brings life from death. Poor, Gentile Ruth was married to Sickly (or maybe Weakly) but after her husband died in the middle of a famine, she wandered back to Israel with her mother-in-law. As a widow, she has no chance to take care of herself and is left gleaning in the fields.
But Boaz starts looking after her. He has extra grain dropped for her. He lets her eat from his table. Eventually he marries her. He is kind beyond reason. He is extraordinarily generous.
Would Ruth have starved without Boaz? Maybe, maybe not. But the widow (can't provide) of Sickly (who is dead) was a Gentile (not God's people) and would certainly have not fared well.
Its a simple story with a simple message. There was a redeemer (in this case literally), who brought life where there should have been death. He lavished love and generosity on the lowest of the low and provided restoration where there should have been starvation.
It's what Christ did for us. Us - the poor, weak Gentiles that could never provide for ourselves. He redeemed us, was generous beyond reason, and even promised to marry us. It's not just a cheesy love story - its a message of grace that says God brings life where there should be death.
Kevin Deane
Posting from Camp Mini-Yo-We
Muskoka, Ontario
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