Story of Ruth
Swanson, John August. Story of Ruth, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56561 [retrieved November 5, 2021]. Original source: www.JohnAugustSwanson.com - copyright 1991 by John August Swanson.
Spiritual Practices: Keyword Listing
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
- Naomi (and related pronouns) - Discover more about the characters in this story
- Ruth (and related pronouns) - Discover more about the characters in this story
- Boaz (and related pronouns) - Discover more about the characters in this story
Spiritual Practices: Breath Prayer
Overview
The story of Ruth and Naomi is a delightful story of love, faithfulness, and redemption that happens during one of Israel's darkest times. Naomi (which means blessed or favored) and her family leaves Israel to go to a foreign country because of a famine in the land. While there, she loses her husband and both her sons. She returns to Israel, with one of her daughters-in-law, ten years later as a broken person. The people in her old town recognize her and greet her by name but she tells them not to call her Naomi, but Mara (which means bitter) saying to God has dealt very bitterly with her. She feels hopeless, but God is not finished writing her story yet. God shows favor to her and Ruth, her daughter-in-law, and restores them through a man named Boaz. Ruth and Boaz have a son who will become the grandfather of David, Israel's greatest king. Despite the bitters of the circumstances, both for Naomi and for Israel, God was not done writing their story yet. He was working to bring redemption and restoration to both Naomi and her nation.
Sometimes we feel like we are at the end of our story. Like Naomi, we feel hopeless and helpless. God is not done writing our stories yet, however. We need to learn to be patient and to trust him, even when we though we may not be able to see what he is doing right now. That is what this breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Abba Father, help me trust in you.
Overview
The story of Ruth and Naomi is a delightful story of love, faithfulness, and redemption that happens during one of Israel's darkest times. Naomi (which means blessed or favored) and her family leaves Israel to go to a foreign country because of a famine in the land. While there, she loses her husband and both her sons. She returns to Israel, with one of her daughters-in-law, ten years later as a broken person. The people in her old town recognize her and greet her by name but she tells them not to call her Naomi, but Mara (which means bitter) saying to God has dealt very bitterly with her. She feels hopeless, but God is not finished writing her story yet. God shows favor to her and Ruth, her daughter-in-law, and restores them through a man named Boaz. Ruth and Boaz have a son who will become the grandfather of David, Israel's greatest king. Despite the bitters of the circumstances, both for Naomi and for Israel, God was not done writing their story yet. He was working to bring redemption and restoration to both Naomi and her nation.
Sometimes we feel like we are at the end of our story. Like Naomi, we feel hopeless and helpless. God is not done writing our stories yet, however. We need to learn to be patient and to trust him, even when we though we may not be able to see what he is doing right now. That is what this breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Abba Father, help me trust in you.