08/22/2025
💔 A note for the broken hearted ❤️
Last week, we studied the book of Ruth in our women's study group.
Ruth lived in a time where the judges ruled in Israel, where spiritual decline was the norm until the people repented and God would lift up a judge to deliver his people.
Her mother-in-law, Naomi, had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Mahlon's name means 'sickly' or 'weak,' and Chilion's means 'pining,' 'wasting,' or 'failing.' Their names don't show a promising future, do they? Naomi loses her husband and two sons in the land of Moab.
Eventually, Naomi decides to move back, and Ruth follows, not wanting to return to her land and to her gods. She decides she will follow her mother-in-law to Bethlehem and states Noemi’s
God will be her God. We can imagine Naomi's pain after losing her family, but what about Ruth's pain? She also lost a husband, her life was also upside down, her dreams were shattered, everything seemed like chaos. We can only imagine that, like her mother-in-law, her pain was probably paralyzing, but she decided she would work in the field, and there, in the midst of uncertainty, God uses Boaz to redeem her, to restore all that was lost. She was a foreigner but didnt lack anything, God provided for her abundantly. In the midst of everything this broken family was experiencing, God decided to give her something that would mark a new beginning. She had a son called Obed, which means 'servant' or 'worshipper.'
The first time we see the name 'worship' is with Abraham obeying God in sacrificing his son (God didnt let him sacrifice his son he provided the lamb symbolizing the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins) who he loved, Isaac.
Worship is an act of surrender, of obedience; it's not the act of singing, it's the act of letting go ,
the act of giving yourself to God without restrictions or boundaries.
Ruth calls her son Obed, who becomes a blessing for generations to come, who is the beginning of something new. Obed was King David's grandfather, and that makes Ruth King David's great grandmother. And just like that, her name is shown in the book of Matthew, chapter 1, and she's mentioned as part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. You don't know where your process or brokenness will get you, but you can trust your life in the hands of God when there's true surrender. He’s our redeemer and provider.
God bless you all
Evangelist Carmen Rivera
