A WIDOW
Day # 11
Ruth 4:17b They
named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
When you make that
special recipe for Christmas, perhaps a special cookie or cake, you make sure
that you add the correct ingredients. If you are making spritz cookies (a
family favorite), you don’t add peppermint extract. That would ruin them. You
add that which will cause the flavor to “pop.” Now, I would have thought that
you added vanilla extract to the cookie dough. But if I would make the cookies
with vanilla extract, they would not turn out correctly. It might not be as bad
as adding peppermint extract but the outcome would be just as bad. They would
not taste right. Instead you add…well, I will tell you at the end of this
devotion.
With A Recipe
for a Savior we have already seen that some special ingredients are added
at the will of the Father. Here in this little book of Ruth, we see that another
special ingredient is added. It is a widow. That’s right, a widow. Actually
within this story you will find another recipe being put together. You take 1
husband + 1 wife = 2 sons. Then you add in 2 daughters-in-law and you have the
recipe for happily ever after. Yet this recipe includes the death of 3 men and
instead you have a recipe for disaster. Life and love followed by death and
sorrow. This recipe doesn’t seem to work out too well.
The Father adds
just the right ingredient, a widow redeemed by a man named Boaz. As the kinsman
redeemer, he is also the right ingredient. God had a plan, an amazing recipe.
Just when Naomi and Ruth were the most helpless, God acted. It reminds us of
what Paul writes, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians
12:10b) That is exactly what A Recipe for a Savior is about – in our
weakness, as we are unable to do for ourselves, God sends the Savior for us and
for our salvation. God sends Boaz, who marries Ruth, takes care of Naomi and
the, surprise of all surprises, has a child. That child is Obed who then grows
to have a family of his own. We are
told, “He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.”
This special
ingredient in A Recipe for a Savior is Ruth, a Moabitess. God sure does
add some surprise ingredients. Oh, and the special ingredient for spritz
cookies – lemon extract. Who knew!
Prayer:
Dear Father, we are blown away by how You work in this world. You bring
together the right people at the right time just to save us from eternal
damnation. Thank You for Your love and Your action. Amen.
I've had added two special families into my life. The catch was I had to be willing to accept! One that happened my life changed for the better. Keeping in mind this was met with much resistance! I know that Gods works work was added to my life at the right time!
ReplyDeleteSome people say I'm a late bloomer! I'm Thankful beyond words that God didn't give up on me! Although at times I'd given up on God and myself!