Day 73, or March the 14th. You are a really special,
ordinary person. Our thoughts today are from
Ruth chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Now Elimelech,
Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with
her two sons. They married Moabite women, one
named Orpah, and the other Ruth. Now the big
picture surrounding these verses. The book of
Ruth is one of only two books in the whole Bible
which bears a woman's name. She lived during
the period of judges, but was from the east of
the Jordan River, a land called Moab. A man named
Elimelech and his wife Naomi migrated to Moab
because of a famine in the promised land, and
settled there with their family. Their two sons
married local women, and one of these was Ruth.
The whole family was rocked when all the men
died. Only Naomi and her two daughters -in -law,
Ruth and Orpah, survived, and Naomi decided to
return to her homeland. Both Ruth and Orpah wanted
to return with her, but she did all she could
to dissuade them. In the end, Orpah remained,
and Naomi and Ruth travelled to Naomi's hometown
of Bethlehem. Ruth married a local man who was
called Boaz, and was a relative of Naomi. They
had a son called Obed, who had a son called Jesse,
who had a son called David, who became king of
Israel. And now, our action step for today. Little
did Ruth know that her marriage and subsequent
journey into the land of the Jews would give
her a unique place in history as a direct ancestor
of Jesus Christ. She was an average sort of person
with a simple faith in God. She had a son called
Obed, about whom we know almost nothing. In a
sense, that's the end of her story. But God had
other plans, which Ruth never knew anything about.
She will be really surprised when you want to
meet her in heaven. Are you a Ruth, not really
standing out from the rest? God also has a special
place for you in history, even though you may
never discover it. Enjoy your life in the light
of this. You are a key person in God's plans.