9. The Consequences of the Right Choices

The Consequences of the Right Choices

"So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, and Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David." (Ruth 4:13-22)

Just for a few moments, at the end of chapter 4, we want to see the result. Three people have made right decisions, now we see the result. Obed, a little boy was born to Ruth, and there were some wonderful things said about this child, but first of all, the blessing was Naomi’s. "The women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, who hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel" (v.14). Poor Naomi down in Moab, her husband dead, her sons dead, how was the name going to be carried on (because the name was connected with the inheritance)? If the name lapsed, the inheritances went to someone else. Oh, what a sad and bleak state of affairs it was, but now all was changed, and here was one born to her own kinsman who was taking up her name, her husband’s name, and the inheritance connected with his name. There was nothing lost, all was recovered because of men and women who made right decisions. Now that is a very wonderful thing. We may feel that there is so much that is lost today, but the Lord would remind us that there are some things which remain, and we are all responsible to strengthen them (Revelation 3:2). May the Lord give us grace and help to strengthen the things that remain, and not to say ’Everything is gone, there is nothing left, it is not worthwhile going on’; it is worthwhile going on, because the measure in which we strengthen things, thank God, something will be added to the position. This little child was to be a "restorer of [Naomi’s] life" (v.15), this wonderful restoration had come in, she thought everything was gone, death had shattered all her hopes, but here was one who was a restorer of her life. This little boy opened up an avenue of blessing and hope for her that previously did not exist. He was also a "nourisher of thy old age". We understand why grandmothers and grandfathers like their grandchildren so much, they look upon them, love them and care for them because they see in them a continuation of those who they love, their own daughters and sons, and they see in those grandchildren those features that they love so well. So here it was with Naomi, her heart rejoiced in her old age, she was encouraged, she was blessed, as she looked upon this little boy; and his name was called Obed, which I understand means ’a worshipper’.

If we look at this story simply and think of all the recovery that took place, when everything had seemed so bleak and dark and hopeless, and now look at the changed picture, a young woman with her husband and their little boy, and the grandmother who rejoiced, everybody happy, ought that not to have produced worship in all those concerned? They all belonged to God, they were all connected with God’s people, how right it was that this little boy with this name should really typify the spirit of worship and praise and response to God for mercy in bringing such a recovery. As long as we are here, I ought really to say, as long as the Spirit of God is here indwelling us individually and with us collectively, there is always a very distinct possibility of recovery and restoration, provided we are prepared to make the decisions. Provided we are prepared to be obedient to the word of God there is every possibility that God will cause us to rejoice and to praise and to worship Him for His restoring grace and mercy. Are we prepared to face the problems that are involved in obedience? Are we prepared to be concerned enough, like Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, to make definite decisions before the Lord and to show the initiative that marked Boaz to carry them out, because if we do, I believe we will see a change.

Lastly, as I close, how wonderful that all this chain of activity, not connected with the leaders, not connected with Othniel, or Deborah, or Barak, or Gideon, or any of the others, but connected with what we might call an obscure family in Judah, was unfolding which found its end in Christ, the true David, great David’s greater son. We read the genealogy in Matthew 1:1-25 and there we find it all - Ruth mentioned there, Obed mentioned there, they were important links in a chain that led to Christ. Now we are not called upon to form links in this sense, the links are already formed with us to Christ, we are united to Him as members of His body, we belong to Him in glory, and I believe that we need to hold every truth that we possess in relation to Him, we hold it in the power that He gives us, in the attraction of His own glorious Person, and all that He is to us as believers; and unless we do so, I believe eventually we shall fail, but it if we find our Christian living centred in Christ, then there will be an adequate response to God that will gladden His heart.