A Love Most Precious: A 10-Day Reading Plan Based on the Book of RuthSample

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. RUTH 1:19 A ESV

We would love to know the details of Ruth and Naomi’s long and dusty journey from Moab to Bethlehem, but the author of the book of Ruth does not provide them. People postulate that the journey may have taken a week or more, and it would not have been smooth. The terrain was rugged, and it would not have been a pleasant trip, especially if their feet ached, if the weather wasn’t cooperative, or if the food or water ran thin. And what of those multiple nights sleeping on the ground? What about prowling animals or dubious travelers along the way? How would they have defended themselves, day and night? What would that experience have been like for two women on their own?

Attached to Ruth and Naomi’s fears, we might wonder if there was also much quiet that fell between them. Perhaps they witnessed bright, starlit nights with the marvel of a shooting star or two. Perhaps their hearts reached up to God, wondering if He could make something beautiful out of their ragged lives. Did those moments of communing with Him became sacred to them? Something to cherish for a lifetime? We can only wonder.

Today, we face many dangers to mind, body, and soul. But we can take our trudging days and fearsome, lonely nights and hand them over to God. He can quiet our souls and create beauty out of our ragged spirits. May those precious moments with God become sacred, indeed.

Oh mighty God, I feel myself getting battered by the fears of the day and the terrors of the night. At times, life feels like a prowling animal, ready to pounce on me. I get distressed by my own spiritual frailties, and I am afraid of some of my fellow humans. Be ever near me. Create sacred moments out of this earthly chaos. Help me to remember that You are mightier than anything that can come against me. I am going to put my full trust in You. In Jesus’ powerful and holy name, I pray. Amen.