“… and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab.” – Ruth 1:22b 

Scripture reading: Ephesians 1:1-10

Interesting, isn’t it? This summary verse says more about Ruth than it does about Naomi. In her bitterness, Naomi hadn’t even mentioned Ruth in her little speech to the town’s people of Bethlehem. She talks about being empty even though she has Ruth at her side.

But the divine narrator isn’t ignoring Ruth at all. He calls her “Ruth the Moabite.” Ruth’s roots are in the land of Moab, a godless, covenant-less people. Everything about her background was so anti-God that it’s hard to put into words.

But what does our narrator say about “Ruth the Moabite”? Note well, she “returned from the country of Moab.” But, we object, she wasn’t from Israel, much less from Bethlehem, so how can she be said to have “returned”? It’s a good question.

Ruth says our text was “with her,” meaning her mother-in-law. God catches up in this story of redemption, Ruth, a daughter of Moab. The two of them are so tied together in this story that they are both said to be returning. This is so beautiful, because in God’s redemptive plan, written before He even created the world, the Promised Land was always Ruth’s real homeland. We read it in Ephesians 1, where it says, God chose His own in Christ “before the foundation of the world.” And so, Ruth was really nothing more than a sojourner there in Moab even though she didn’t know it herself. She returns to where God already had her in His perfect plan.

Suggestions for prayer

Do you have someone close to you who does not yet know Christ? Pray that they be caught up in the grace that God has shown you, so that they too confess “your God shall be my God.”

Since 2019, Rev. Rodney Vermeulen has served the Attercliffe Canadian Reformed Church near Dunnville, Ontario, Canada. He, his wife, children and grandchildren are deeply grateful for the blessing of daily living under the shelter of God’s wings. Get this devotional delivered directly to your phone each day via our RP App. This devotional is made available by the Nearer To God Devotional team, who also make available in print, for purchase, at NTGDevotional.com.