Last night we continued our look at God’s wisdom for our relationships by finishing our study of the book of Ruth. Also, if you want more thoughts on all this, you might want to check out the notes for two other studies we did in the last year; one on the true meaning of Love in 1 John, and one on how Christ is Lord of Our Dating.
Here are the notes from last night:
3:14 Righteousness over temptation
They could have sinned, but they didn’t. waiting & purity
They trust God by “doing it right.”
They are better models than our culture. (like Joseph)
So, here’s one way to know our relationship is God’s will: Are we able to (and do we) prioritize righteousness in the relationship?
3:15-18
They avoiding even the appearance of Evil
Boaz keeps providing / Naomi knows he’ll follow through…He won’t lag. Once they know they can move forward, they don’t wait too long
Boaz knows what he needed to know about Ruth (they had 3 months together, and there’s her town-wide reputation he mentions in 3:11)
He was fully able to marry her. (Job, Income, Responsibility, etc…)
4:1-6
They leave it in God’s hands by pursuing righteousness
v.6 Boaz loves the person (Ruth), not just the things (the land)
4:13
Only two direct acts of God mentioned in the book: here (conception) and in 1:6 (giving food). God provides whatever we need.
Verses for dating and moving towards marriage: Romans 13:8-14; Galatians 5:16-26; Ephesians 4:17-5:12. Though these passages weren’t written specifcally with 21st century dating relationships in mind, they have all kinds of direction for us to apply to our situations.
So what does Ruth’s Story show us? God guides, God provides. Even when we can’t see it, God is constantly guiding our lives in order to provide what He knows we need. Yielding to that guidance, cultivating our knowledge of Him and actively living out his commands are the surest ways to see His plan come to pass. His timing is the best timing, and in the End, we will praise Him for what He did with our lives.