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This five-day track through the book of Ruth, taught by Grant Partrick, demonstrates what it means to trust God even in the face of adversity and embrace His redemption.
As we dive deep into this book, which is often highly regarded as the greatest short story of all time, we pray that you will be inspired by the faithfulness of a young Moabite girl named Ruth and encouraged in your faith to trust God in all things obediently.
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04.17.2024
About this track
This five-day track through the book of Ruth, taught by Grant Partrick, demonstrates what it means to trust God even in the face of adversity and embrace His redemption.
As we dive deep into this book, which is often highly regarded as the greatest short story of all time, we pray that you will be inspired by the faithfulness of a young Moabite girl named Ruth and encouraged in your faith to trust God in all things obediently.
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The Book of Ruth
5-day track with Grant Partrick
Day 02
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In the Days When the Judges Ruled
Day 03
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Left on Empty
Day 04
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The Next Right Thing
Day 05
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Everything Can Be Redeemed
The book of Ruth poignantly describes a story of redemption and love. Ruth, a Moabite woman and one of the book’s main characters, was saved by the sovereign care of God. Through her relationship with her late husband and mother-in-law, Naomi, Ruth learned about the God of Israel, became his devoted follower, and faithfully followed his lead. Undoubtedly, this decision did not come without cost for Ruth. However, through obedience to Yahweh, she found greater blessing — both the provision she needed to survive and a central role in the family line of Jesus Christ (Ru 4:18 – 22; Mt 1:5).
Ruth’s story takes place during a time when a series of judges led the people of God. This period is known to have been a time of extreme moral decline and spiritual poverty. The story of Ruth and Boaz provides a glimpse of the hope of redemption that can come even amid overwhelming cultural chaos and immorality.
Ruth’s loyalty toward Naomi throughout the book symbolizes the type of covenant love God shows to his people. Even though Ruth was originally unfamiliar with the Law of God, she received God’s gracious blessings.
God’s sovereign work is seen throughout the story of Ruth and Boaz. The odds seemed stacked against their relationship from the outset — Ruth was an outsider who, after suffering significant loss, followed her mother-in-law to Bethlehem. She had every reason to feel discouraged and defeated. Without a husband or a family, Ruth’s prospects were dim. She was a poverty-stricken widow scraping out a meager existence by gleaning what the harvesters left in the wheat fields. What she could not see is transparent to the modern reader – God was orchestrating all the seemingly isolated events of her life to bring her to the knowledge of the one true and living God and into the blessing that he had promised to his children.
A central concept of the book and the role played by Boaz, Ruth’s eventual husband, is that of a guardian-redeemer. In ancient Israel, a man’s nearest relative was expected to marry a widow and provide for her needs to fulfill her husband’s obligations, including providing an heir. Boaz claimed that responsibility for Naomi’s deceased husband and sons dramatically changing the lives and the futures of both Ruth and Naomi. Like Boaz, Jesus was a guardian-redeemer. He paid the ultimate price for humanity’s redemption — his blood — and claimed his people by the power of his love, changing their eternal futures. Boaz’s love for Ruth is a picture of the way that God loves his church. He takes notice of her, redeems her, lavishes grace upon her, and places her within the community of faith as her guardian-redeemer.
God blessed the marriage of Ruth and Boaz with a child who would become an ancestor to King David and later a part of the earthly line of the promised Messiah.
“May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” – Ruth 2:12
This excerpt was from The Jesus Bible. If you would like to purchase a copy of The Jesus Bible, click here.
This five-day track through the book of Ruth, taught by Grant Partrick, demonstrates what it means to trust God even in the face of adversity and embrace His redemption.
As we dive deep into this book, which is often highly regarded as the greatest short story of all time, we pray that you will be inspired by the faithfulness of a young Moabite girl named Ruth and encouraged in your faith to trust God in all things obediently.
For today, let’s jump into the first few verses of chapter one of Ruth.
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.
Ruth 1:1-3
Video
Summary
“Trust is one of the currencies in the economy of God.”
What a powerful thought, that as sons and daughters of God, we can not only always trust our good Heavenly Father to provide, but we can be certain of it because He always has.
Unfortunately, it’s also true that we don’t always remember that fact… isn’t it?
A fear of famine, of going without, led Elimalek (a man whose name translates to “My God is King”) away from his home in Bethlehem. This son of God was so terrified of the possibility of scarcity that he took shelter in Moab, a city that God had cursed.
You can relate to Elimalek. When faced with fear of the future, have you ever noticed that you try to grab the reins of your life, forgetting who God is and what He has done for you? The temptation to do just that usually only intensifies as our circumstances get increasingly more difficult.
Elimalek was right where he needed to be, but he allowed his circumstances to get in the way. Good thing the story didn’t stop there; there was a redemption plan already in place.
What's Next?
Write down the fears or challenging circumstances you’re facing. Then, read Psalm 23:4 and Matthew 6:34.
It’s day two, and today, our focus will be on Naomi’s decision to leave the Kingdom of Moab and Ruth’s declaration that she would follow her mother-in-law wherever she went. Both women left Moab with nothing, hoping and believing God would provide for them. In these verses of Ruth, we see Naomi filled with shame, exclaiming, “The Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
We’re also reminded of a similar story in the book of Luke: the parable of the lost sons. As we study these verses, we see the prodigal son leave home and, later, a homecoming between a lost son and a loving father.
Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
Ruth 1:3-18
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Summary
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
Luke 15:11-16
Can you relate to this story of being led astray, choosing the things of this world to fill yourself rather than believing God will provide everything you need?
Like the prodigal son, Elimalek and Naomi thought their way was better than God’s. But they were wrong, and it would cost them dearly. In the wake of losing everything, Naomi knew what she needed to do. It was time for her to make the journey back to the land of Judah. Similarly, after coming up empty, the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable would face the same kind of decision:When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
Luke 15:17-20
Like Naomi and the prodigal son, many of us have felt tremendous shame after realizing that we traded God’s best way for a gamble on our own wisdom that would have never paid off.
We can be reassured that when we decide to return to God after following our fleshly desires, God still opens His arms to us. Our Father is not standing hands on hips, ready to say, “I told you so.” Beautifully, He embodies compassion and grace as his eyes find us stumbling home from a long way off.
What's Next?
Continue reading Luke 15, ending at verse 24. Not only does the father embrace his son upon his return, but he also calls for his servants to dress him in fine robes and throw a party.
God is hardly mentioned in the book of Ruth, yet He is at work in every verse. This is true of days two and three, and it is no different for day four as we focus on Ruth gleaning in the field and meeting Boaz for the first time.
We read a story filled with promises from the Lord that you may mistake for coincidences. As we study these following verses together, we recognize God’s sovereignty in the story of Ruth and Boaz and see that character and integrity matter to God.
Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.
And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”
So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
Ruth 2:1-12
Video
Summary
It “just so happened.” Ruth chooses to glean in a field that happens to belong to Boaz. Boaz is a close relative of her father-in-law, making him a kinsman-redeemer. And on that same day, Boaz shows up and sees Ruth.
There are no coincidences in the economy of God.
On day two, we noted that Bethlehem translated as “House of Bread.” Later, the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, his name meaning “Bread of Life.” Where some may see coincidence, the believer can recognize God’s sovereign hand at work. God was foreshadowing what was to come: that one day, the tiny town of Bethlehem would become the home of Jesus.
The city you were born in, the family you grew up in, the schools you attended, and the jobs you took are all minor details of God’s bigger story for your life. Romans 8:28 reads, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
This can bring hope to the darkest places for us: even if we can’t hear Him speaking or don’t understand why we’re facing the circumstances, we can trust that He is working. We don’t have to know every detail of the plan to trust every word of the promise.
What's Next?
Ruth and Boaz were obedient and known to have good character and integrity, two things that matter a great deal to God. Read Proverbs 12:22.
It’s the final day of this track through the book of Ruth, and as we close out this study, our focus is on the ultimate redeemer: Jesus. As we meditate on these last few verses, we see God always had a greater plan. Not only was Ruth redeemed by Boaz, but in her marriage with him, she became part of the lineage of the Messiah.
How good is our God? A book beginning with such distrust and grief ends with a lineage leading ultimately to Calvary, where the greatest redemption story occurred.
Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”
Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This, then, is the family line of Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.
Ruth 4:9-22
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Hebrews 2:14-15
Video
Summary
Everything and everyone can be redeemed in the economy of God.
Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David, who was part of the lineage of the promised Messiah. Not only did Jesus redeem Ruth’s lifetime, but He redeemed her entire lineage and all of humanity.
You may be wondering—why Ruth? The Jewish people were most likely wondering the same thing. A woman, let alone a Moabite, was included in the story of Jesus. She wasn’t wealthy, didn’t come from an honorable family, and wasn’t the Israelite woman most people in this period would have expected God to use. But God works outside of societal norms and expectations.
God likes to choose the unlikely. After all, God chose Saul (later Paul) to lead people to Him, even though Saul persecuted Christians. The unlikeable murderer became the unlikely messenger, carrying the message of a redeemer and giving hope to the lost and freedom to the captives.
We have nothing to offer the King, but as Boaz looked on Ruth with grace, God looks on us with grace and pursues us. The book of Ruth isn’t meant to point us to Ruth and Boaz. Its purpose is to direct our attention and affection to the ultimate redeemer. Jesus, by whom and for whom everything was created, chose to be born of flesh and blood so that He could be our kinsman, and because He was willing and able to pay the price, He became our redeemer.
What's Next?
Jesus is in every word of Scripture, starting in the very first book of the Bible. Read Genesis 1:26.
Next Day
Track Topics
Scripture References
- Judges 20:10
- Judges 21:55
- Deuteronomy 28
- Ruth 1:1-3
- Ruth 1:4-18
- Ruth 2:20-12
- Ruth 3
- Hebrews 2:14-15
Grant Partrick Grant Partrick is a part of the team at Passion City Church and serves as the Cumberland Location Pastor. He is passionate about inspiring people to live their lives for what matters most. Grant and his wife, Maggie, live in Marietta, Georgia with their daughters, Mercy, Ember, and Charleigh. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned a masters of theology degree.
Day 02
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Fan Into Flame
Day 03
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No Shame
Day 04
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Hold Fast
Day 05
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How to Live a Meaningful Life
Day 02
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Fan Into Flame
Day 03
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No Shame
Day 04
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Hold Fast
Day 05
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How to Live a Meaningful Life