There Is No Bread In Moab

In these dark times, how do we keep from being corrupted by the unfruitful works of darkness but instead expose and expel them (Eph. 5:12)? The book of Ruth, which we will be exploring for the next few weeks, gives us answers to these questions and so much more. In this book, we see a picture of purity, faithfulness, loyalty, duty, and love, and yet it is all set in dark times.

The closing verse of the book of Judges, which comes immediately before Ruth in our Bibles, gives us the reason behind these dark times. It reads, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

It is against this backdrop of contempt and chaos that the events of the book of Ruth unfold. And it is during this dark period that the lives of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz shine like beacons of light, bringing hope in desperate times.

Have you ever doubted if God could ever use you, especially in difficult times? The book of Ruth encourages us by demonstrating that even in extraordinary times, God’s hand of providence is working out His plan through the lives of ordinary people. In this first message in the series, we learn that we must, by God’s grace, choose the road of persistence over the road of least resistance so that we might come to know the Bread that only heaven can provide.