Naomi's Departure

Lesson 1
Review 1

Ruth's Devotion

Lesson  2
Review  2

SECTION 3
Title 1
Title 2
Title 3
Title 4
Title 5

SECTION 4
Title 1
Title 2
Title 3
Title 4
Title 5
Title 6

RUTH 

Lesson 2 Review

Active Faith

Ruth refused to give up hope.   When she married her husband she left the gods of the Moabites and learned from her new family about the one true God.  This was the God who parted the Red Sea and brought water forth from a rock!   With Him all things are possible! Nothing was too hard for Him...  Hadn't Naomi herself taught her that when she was afraid, she could trust in God?

Why then was her mother-in-law not acting on the basis of this faith? Her words-  Call me *Bitter* for God has dealt severely with me!  - did not reflect the kind of faith that Naomi had urged Ruth to embrace.

Are you feeling empty today?  Are your burdens weighing you down so that you long to call out "Don't call me pleasant...call me bitter for God has dealt severely with me!"  Friend, remember that God is not dealing with you in order to embitter you.  His dealings with you are in order to bring you ever closer into His embrace.  His goal is that the two of you might have a fellowship so sweet that you will  never  want to leave again.  Is your faith faltering?  Have you given in to the temptation to sit this one out...instead of being actively involved in the race?  Maybe you feel that you lack the Biblical knowledge to be a great woman of faith. Be encouraged!  Ruth knew very little about the God of Naomi, yet she refused to become bitter.  Instead  she chose to take action based on what she little she knew about God... believing He would not fail them in their time of need.

What do you know to be true about God today?  Write it down.  Now read your list.  Whether your list is long or short matters little-- the challenge is the same.  Will you be a woman who takes action on the basis of what she has written down? On the basis of what she knows to be true of Him?

When faced with overwhelming obstacles and grief, heartache and prejudice, Ruth chose to put the type of action to her faith that declared for all to see:  The God of Naomi is the only true God. 

James tells us-

Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by what I do...Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did?

...You see that his faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did...faith without deeds is dead.

What James is saying to us is that our action is evidence of the genuineness of our faith.  In Galatians 5:6 the apostle Paul goes on to say, The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.  True faith produces action.