Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Ruth 1 and Psalm 45

Confession time … What a relief to be done with Judges. The whole book could really be summed up in its closing sentence (which we read yesterday): “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” We have spent weeks now witnessing the disastrous state of affairs that results from this Godless approach to life and community.

And yet, in a gentle whisper of grace, the lovely book of Ruth is set “in the days when the judges ruled.” With the madness of sin and violence raging all around, the brave widow, Naomi, and her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth (now a young widow herself) return to Israel. Their exchange at the border between their two nations is precious and poignant: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”

We also live in an age of violence and moral insanity. I pray that as we read this short story of Ruth and Naomi over the course of next week, we will take upon ourselves the call to shine the grace and love of God in the way these two ladies did. If we can do that, our lives will shine with a richness of beauty that will be in stark contrast to the state of the world around us. May it be so. Amen.