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January 13 Daily Devotional

Your People will be My People

Peter G. Feenstra

Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. (Ruth 1:16)

Bible Reading

Ruth 1:16–17

Devotional

Have you paused to thank God for His grace and for your church membership? We tend to take these things for granted. It often takes someone who comes from outside the church community to remind us of our privileges. Joining the church from an unbelieving background can be very difficult. It wouldn’t have been easy for Ruth. Why go to a foreign land where you will be considered a stranger?

Ruth is willing to break with all the earthly securities Moab had to offer for the sake of being a member of the church of God. She is willing to go with her mother-in-law because she hears the voice of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob calling her. Even as Naomi wallows in her own sorrow and bitterness the Lord is changing the heart of Ruth. In answer to His sovereign good pleasure and electing love she opens her mouth and says, “I will not go back to my home and native land but I will return with you to the land of promise.” She loves God because He first loved her. Ruth’s confession has its roots in God’s electing love.

Ruth is a daughter of Moab, a daughter of Lot according to the flesh. She is a descendant of the women who in Zoar had said to one another, “There is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” (Gen 19:31-32) The daughters of Lot were widows as well but took the future into their own hands. Ruth, however, says farewell to that lifestyle.

It isn’t because church people are known for being warm, friendly, loving and kind that Ruth is excited about joining the people of God. It isn’t about people at all. Israel isn’t living in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Yet Ruth goes, convinced that she must obey God.

The Lord blesses Ruth’s obedience. The Saviour will come forth from her body. He will be called Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins.” At one time she was separated from Christ having no hope and without God in the world. That’s your background, too. But in Jesus you who were once far off have drawn near in His blood (Eph 2). Remember to thank God for the privilege of your church membership.

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