“Like so many, I love Dr. Piper because he helps me to love the

God of the Bible. And, in A Sweet and Bitter Providence, he has

done it yet again.”

Mark Driscoll, Founding Pastor of Mars Hill Church,

President of Resurgence, President of the Acts 29

Church Planting Network

“This book surprised me at how it both comforted and con-

victed me. And in the midst of a difficult circumstance it

inspired me to look for God’s hand of providence. I can’t think

of anyone who wouldn’t benefit from its call to purity, faith, and

Christ-centered hope. John Piper’s God-given gifts as a teacher

and pastor are on full display in these pages. Reading this book

will serve your soul.”

Joshua Harris, pastor and author of Dug Down Deep

“With his usual clarity, candor, and insight, John Piper master-

fully guides us through the short but powerful book of Ruth.

More than a ‘little romance,’ Piper unpacks the book’s teaching

on sovereignty, providence, grace, and glory. As we follow the

account of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, our own lives are enriched

and transformed. I recommend this book to all who desire to

know God better through his Word.”

Tremper Longman, Robert H. Gundry Professor of

Biblical Studies, Westmont College

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“We live in a relativistic culture, where people are more con-

cerned with being liked than being truthful. In A Sweet and

Bitter Providence, John Piper does an outstanding job of bibli-

cally defending key truths that the church often ignores. He

gives us an example of how to take a bold and educated stand

on issues of race, purity, and God’s sovereignty.”

Francis Chan, pastor of Cornerstone Church and

author of Crazy Love

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A SWEET & BITTER PROVIDENCE

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Other BOOks By JOhn PiPer

God’s Passion for His Glory

The Pleasures of God

Desiring God

The Dangerous Duty of Delight

Future Grace

A Hunger for God

Let the Nations Be Glad!

A Godward Life

Pierced by the Word

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

What’s the Difference?

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals

The Supremacy of God in Preaching

Don’t Waste Your Life

The Passion of Jesus Christ

Life as a Vapor

When I Don’t Desire God

Taste and See

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die

God Is the Gospel

What Jesus Demands from the World

Battling Unbelief

When the Darkness Will Not Lift

Spectacular Sins

Finally Alive: What Happens When We Are Born Again

John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God

Rethinking Retirement

This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence

Velvet Steel

For a complete list of books by John Piper, see page 159.

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A SWEET AND

BITTER PROVIDENCE

SEX, RACE, AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

JOHN PIPER

W h e a t o n , I l l I n o I s

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A Sweet and Bitter Providence

Copyright © 2010 by Desiring God Foundation

Published by Crossway Books

a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechani-

cal, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the pub-

lisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Matt Mantooth

Cover illustration: Bridgeman Art Library

First printing, 2010

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the ESV®

Bible (The Holy Bible: English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by

Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked kjv are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked nasb are from The New American Standard

Bible.® Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971,

1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture references marked niv are from The Holy Bible: New International

Version.® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used

by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The “NIV”

and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United

States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of

either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-1437-1

PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-1438-8

Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-1439-5

ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-2434-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Piper, John, 1946–

A sweet and bitter providence : sex, race, and the

sovereignty of God / John Piper.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4335-1437-1 (hc)

1. Bible O.T. Ruth—Commentaries. I. Title.

BS1315.53.P67 2010

222'.3506—dc22

2009021018

L B

1 7

1 6

1 5

1 4

1 3

1 2

11

1 0

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

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To

Noël and Talitha

women of worth

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CONTENTS

Introduction

11

CHAPTER ONE

Sweet and Bitter Providence

17

CHAPTER TWO

Under the Wings of God

53

CHAPTER THREE

Strategic Righteousness

75

CHAPTER FOUR

May My Redeemer Be Renowned

95

Final Appeals

125

Acknowledgments

147

Scripture Index

149

Person Index

153

Subject Index

155

Resources Page

160

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INTRODUCTION

RUTH IS A VERY OLD BOOK. The events took place

over three thousand years ago. Could it be relevant and

helpful for your life? I think so. The sovereignty of God,

the sexual nature of man, and the gospel never change.

And since God is still sovereign, and you are male or

female, and Christ is alive and powerful, the book has a

message for you.

I don’t know you or your circumstances well enough

to say for sure that you should read this book. You must

decide. To be sure, there are other things to do that are

just as important—like telling your neighbor about

Jesus. So let me simply tell you why I think you might

be helped if you join me in listening to the message of

Ruth. I’ll make these seven reasons brief, so you can

decide and be on your way or stay.

The Word of God

First, the book of Ruth is part of the Scriptures, which

Jesus loved. He said, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John

10:35). He said, “Until heaven and earth pass away, not

11

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Introduction

an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law [a reference

to the Scriptures] until all is accomplished” (Matthew

5:18). And best of all he said, “[T]he Scriptures . . . bear

witness about me” (John 5:39).

The reason these Scriptures—including Ruth—

cannot be broken is that they are God’s word. “All

Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16).

“Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the

Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). Therefore, the message of

Ruth is unwaveringly true. It’s a rock to stand on when

the terrain of ideas feels like quicksand. It’s an anchor

to hold us when tides are ripping.

But the best thing about the Scriptures is that they

give hope, because they point to Jesus Christ. They were

“written for our instruction, that through endurance

and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we

might have hope” (Romans 15:4). The message of Ruth

is filled with God-inspired hope.

A Love Story

Second, Ruth is a love story. One commentary suggests

that it may be “the most beautiful short story ever

written.”1 There are some heart-stopping moments. Not

1F. B. Huey, Ruth, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, ed. Frank E.

Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 509.

12

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Introduction

often do we get the richest and deepest truth in the form of

a passionate love story. The way Ruth and Boaz find each

other is the stuff of epics. It involves God’s sovereign rule

over nations and reaches across thousands of years in its

purpose. But the story is the flesh-and-blood experience of

one family living the unexpected plan of God.

Manhood and Womanhood

Third, the book of Ruth is the portrait of beautiful, noble

manhood and womanhood. The greatness of manhood and

womanhood is more than sex. It is more than a throbbing

love story. In a day when movies and television and advertis-

ing and the Internet portray masculinity and femininity in

the lowest ways, we are in great need of stories that elevate

the magnificent meaning of manhood and womanhood.

In making sex the main thing, the modern world is

losing the glory and beauty and depth and power of what

sexuality becomes when it runs like a deep and mighty river

between the high banks of righteousness. Ruth and Boaz are

extraordinary. Men and women today need heroes like this.

Ethnocentrism

Fourth, the story of Ruth addresses one of the great

issues of our time: racial and ethnic diversity and har-

13

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Introduction

mony. Racism and all manner of ethnocentrisms are as

common today around the world as they ever have been.

The shrinking of the planet into immediate access on

the Internet has brought thousands of strange people

and strange patterns of life into our lives—and put our

strangeness into their lives. Diversity is a given in this

world. The question is how we will think and feel and

act about it.

Consider a few facts from the U. S. Census Bureau

about what is in store for America:

Minorities, now [August 2008] roughly one-third

of the U.S. population, are expected to become the

majority in 2042, with the nation projected to be 54

percent minority in 2050. By 2023, minorities will

comprise more than half of all children. . . . The non-

Hispanic, single-race white population is projected to

be only slightly larger in 2050 (203.3 million) than in

2008 (199.8 million). In fact, this group is projected to

lose population in the 2030s and 2040s and comprise

46 percent of the total population in 2050, down from

66 percent in 2008.2

Ruth is an “unclean” pagan Moabitess. But she is drawn

into faith and into the lineage of Jesus Christ, the Son of

2Accessed 12–01–08; http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/

archives/population/012496.html.

14

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Introduction

God. Her marriage is an interracial marriage. There are

lessons here that we need as much today as ever.

The Sovereignty of God

Fifth, the most prominent purpose of the book of Ruth

is to bring the calamities and sorrows of life under the

sway of God’s providence and show us that God’s pur-

poses are good. It is not a false statement when Naomi,

Ruth’s mother-in-law, says, “[T]he Almighty has dealt

very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the Lord

has brought me back empty. . . . [T]he Almighty has

brought calamity upon me” (Ruth 1:20–21).

That is true. But here’s the question the book

answers: Is God’s bitter providence the last word? Are

bitter ingredients (like vanilla extract) put in the mixer

to make the cake taste bad? Everywhere I look in the

world today, whether near or far, the issue for real peo-

ple in real life is, Can I trust and love the God who has

dealt me this painful hand in life? That is the question

the book of Ruth intends to answer.

Risk-Taking Love

Sixth, the gift of hope in God’s providence is meant to

overflow in radical acts of love for hurting people. The

15

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Introduction

book of Ruth is not in the Bible merely to help us think

right thoughts about God. Nor merely to give us hope

in his good providence. That hope-filled confidence is

meant to release radical, risk-taking love. It’s there to

make you a new kind of person—a person who is able

“to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly

with your God” (Micah 6:8).

The Glory of Christ

Seventh, the book of Ruth aims to show that all of his-

tory, even its darkest hours, serves to magnify the glory

of God’s grace. In surprising ways, a thousand years

before Christ, this book glorifies his saving work on the

cross, as we will see. Ruth is about the work of God in

the darkest of times to prepare the world for the glories

of Jesus Christ.

I invite you to join me as we walk together through

this amazing story.

16

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C H A P T E R O N E

SWEET AND BITTER

PROVIDENCE

Where you go I will go, and where you lodge

I will lodge. Your people shall be my people,

and your God my God. Where you die I will die,

and there will I be buried.

May the Lord do so to me and more also

if anything but death parts me from you.

17

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5

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Sweet and Bitter Providence

In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine

in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to

sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his

two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and

the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two

sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites

from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country

of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the hus-

band of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.

4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was

Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there

about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so

that the woman was left without her two sons and her

husband.

6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return

from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields

of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given

them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she was

with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the

way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to

her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her

mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as

you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord

19

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A SWEET & BITTER PROVIDENCE

grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of

her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up

their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “No, we

will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said,

“Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me?

Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your

husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for

I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have

hope, even if I should have a husband this night and

should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they

were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marry-

ing? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me

for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out

against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept

again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth

clung to her.

15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back

to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-

law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or

to return from following you. For where you go I will go,

and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be

my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will

die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me

and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

20

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Sweet and Bitter Providence

18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go

with her, she said no more.

19 So the two of them went on until they came to Beth-

lehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole

town was stirred because of them. And the women said,

“Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me

Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very

bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the Lord has

brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the

Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has

brought calamity upon me?”

22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-

in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab.

And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley

harvest.

The Prostitute and the Moabite

According to the first verse of the book of Ruth, the

story took place during the time of the judges. That’s

why Ruth comes right after the book called Judges in

our Bibles. The time of the judges was a 400-year period

after Israel entered the Promised Land under the lead-

21

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A SWEET & BITTER PROVIDENCE

ership of Joshua and before there were any kings in

Israel (roughly 1400 b.c. to 1000 b.c.).

Although some generations may be left out of the

genealogy in Ruth 4:18–22, Boaz, who marries Ruth,

is linked as a descendant from Rahab, the converted

prostitute who lived when Israel first came into the

Promised Land (Joshua 2:1, 3; 6:17, 23). We learn this

from the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5. This sig-

nals to us that remarkable things are in the offing. Why

would a prostitute and a Moabitess be mentioned back

to back in the genealogy of Jesus? Why would they be

mentioned at all? We are getting in at the ground level

of something amazing.

God at Work in the Worst of Times

You can see from the last verse of the book of Judges

what sort of period it was. Judges 21:25 says, “In those

days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was

right in his own eyes.” It was a very dark time in Israel.

The same gloomy pattern happened again and again:

The people would sin, God would send enemies against

them, the people would cry for help, and God would mer-

cifully raise up a judge to deliver them (Judges 2:16–19).

From all outward appearances, God’s purposes for

22

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Sweet and Bitter Providence

righteousness and glory in Israel were failing. But what

the book of Ruth does for us is give us a glimpse into the

hidden work of God during the worst of times.

Consider the last verse of Ruth (4:22). The child

born to Ruth and Boaz during the period of the judges

is Obed. Obed becomes the father of Jesse, and Jesse

becomes the father of David who led Israel to her great-

est heights of glory. One of the main messages of this

little book is that God is at work in the worst of times.

Putting in Place the Ancestry of Christ

Even through the sins of his people, God plots for their

glory. It was true at the national level. And we will see

that it is true at the personal, family level too. God is

at work in the worst of times. He is at work doing a

thousand things no one can see but him. In the case of

this story, God is at work preparing the way for Christ

in a manner no one can see.1 The reason we know it is

because the book ends by connecting Ruth and Boaz

with David the king. The last words of the book are

“Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse

fathered David” (4:21–22).

1For a more extended treatment on how God throughout the Bible plots the good of his people even through their sins, see John Piper, Spectacular Sins:

And Their Global Purpose for the Glory of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008).

23

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A SWEET & BITTER PROVIDENCE

Jesus identified himself as “the son of David”

(Matthew 22:41–46). He forged a link straight from

himself, over all the intervening generations, to David

and Jesse and Obed and Ruth. Knowing how this book

ends gives us a sense, as we begin, that nothing will be

insignificant here. Huge things are at stake. God is put-

ting in place the ancestry of Jesus the Messiah, whose

kingdom will endure forever (Isaiah 9:7).

Behind a Frowning Providence

As a means to that end—and everything is a means to

glorifying Christ—the book of Ruth reveals the hidden

hand of God in the bitter experiences of his people. The

point of this book is not just that God is preparing the

way for the coming of the King of Glory, but that he is

doing it in such a way that all of us should learn that

the worst of times are not wasted. They are not wasted

globally, historically, or personally.

When you think he is farthest from you, or has even

turned against you, the truth is that as you cling to him,

he is laying foundation stones of greater happiness in

your life.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust him for his grace;

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Sweet and Bitter Providence

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face. 2

What William Cowper says in these lines is a descrip-

tion of how God brings about the eternal salvation of his

people. It’s the way he governs history, and it is the way

he governs our lives. The book of Ruth is one of the most

graphic stories of how God hides his smiling face behind

a frowning providence.

The Miseries of Naomi

Verses 1–5 describe the misery of Naomi—the frown-

ing providence, as we will see. Naomi is one of the

three main characters in this drama. She will become

the mother-in-law of Ruth. She is an Israelite with her

husband Elimelech and two sons Mahlon and Chilion.

They are from Bethlehem where we know Jesus will be

born one day—which raises our awareness again of how

explosive this book is with connections to the Messiah.

Naomi, not her husband or sons or Ruth, is the focus

of the first chapter of Ruth. This chapter is about her

miseries—her bitter providence. The first misery (1:1)

is a famine in Judah where Naomi and her husband

Elimelech and her sons live. Naomi knows who causes

2William Cowper (1731–1800), “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”

25

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A SWEET & BITTER PROVIDENCE

famines. God does. Perhaps she learned this from the

Scriptures, which say in Leviticus 26:3–4, “If you walk

in my statutes and observe my commandments and do

them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and

the land shall yield its increase.” In other words, God

rules the rain. When the rains are withheld, this is the

hard hand of God.

Is This Blasphemous or Comforting?

Please know that I am aware of how unacceptable this

truth is to some. That horrific suffering serves God’s

purposes is not seen as good news by many. Flesh-and-

blood calamities, like the tsunami of December 2004, are

so devastating in the human agony that they cause that

many Christians cannot ascribe them to the plan of God.

For example, David Hart wrote in the Wall Street Journal,

When confronted by the sheer savage immensity of

worldly suffering—when we see the entire littoral rim

of the Indian Ocean strewn with tens of thousands of

corpses, a third of them children’s—no Christian is

licensed to utter odious banalities about God’s inscru-

table counsels or blasphemous suggestions that all

this mysteriously serves God’s good ends.3

3David B. Hart, “Tremors of Doubt,” Wall Street Journal, December 31, 2004.

Accessed 12–3-08; http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110006097.

26

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Sweet and Bitter Providence

These are strong words. And I strongly disagree with

them. It is the message of the book of Ruth, as we will

see, that all things mysteriously serve God’s good ends.

Thousands of Christians who have walked through

fire and have seen horrors embrace God’s control of all

things as the comfort and hope of their lives. It is not

comforting or hopeful in their pain to tell them that

God is not in control. Giving Satan the decisive control

or ascribing pain to chance is not true or helpful. When

the world is crashing in, we need assurance that God

reigns over it all.

I write these things because they are true. I also

write them because after thirty-five years of ministering

to real people, I know they are precious to those who suf-

fer. The people who most cherish the sovereignty of God

in suffering are those exposed to the greatest dangers.

A Sovereign Bullet

For example, on April 20, 2001, the Peruvian Air Force

shot down a missionary plane, mistaking it for a drug

courier. In the plane were the pilot Kevin Donaldson and

a missionary family, Jim and Veronica Bowers and their

two children, seven-month-old Charity and six-year-old

Cory. Veronica had Charity in her lap sitting in the back

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A SWEET & BITTER PROVIDENCE

of the Cessna 185. As the bullets sprayed the plane, one

of them entered Veronica’s back and passed through her

and into her daughter. Both died. The pilot, with shat-

tered knees, crash-landed the plane in a river, and the

other three survived.

Seven days later at the memorial service in Fruitport,

Michigan, Jim Bowers gave his testimony and explained

why the sovereignty of God in the deaths of his wife and

daughter was the rock under his feet.

Most of all I want to thank God. He’s a sovereign

God. I’m finding that out more now. . . . Some of you

might ask, “Why thank God?” . . . Could this really

be God’s plan for Roni and Charity; God’s plan for

Cory and me and our family? I’d like to tell you why

I believe so.4

He goes on to give fifteen reasons. In that context, he

says, “Roni and Charity were instantly killed by the

same bullet. (Would you say that’s a stray bullet?) And

it didn’t reach Kevin, who was right in front of Charity;

it stayed in Charity. That was a sovereign bullet.”

But what about the Peruvian fighter pilots? Didn’t

they have wills? Didn’t they make mistakes or, per-

4Quoted from an online transcript of Jim Bowers’s message. Accessed 5-1-09;

www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org/ResourceLibrary/Bowers/Bowers/htm.

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Sweet and Bitter Providence

haps, even sin against an innocent missionary family?

Jim Bowers said, “Those people who did that simply

were used by God. Whether you want to believe it or

not. I believe it. They were used by Him, by God, to

accomplish His purpose in this, maybe similar to the

Roman soldiers whom God used to put Christ on the

cross.”5

We will see from the story of Ruth and from the cross

of Christ that in this life our hope in the next depends

on God’s reign over all things. It may be hard to embrace

when the pain is great, but far worse would be the weak-

ness of God and his inability to stop the blowing of the

wind and the flight of a bullet.

The Parallels with Joseph and Egypt

Naomi knew that God ruled the rain and, therefore,

the famine. This was implicit in the Scriptures. Or she

may have learned it from the story of Joseph. In fact,

there are some striking parallels between Naomi’s cir-

cumstances and Joseph’s. Joseph, the son of Jacob, was

sold into slavery in Egypt by his own brothers (Genesis

37:28). In the end, this would prove to be the salvation

of the very brothers who sold him. Indeed, it would save

5Ibid.

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the entire people of Israel—and preserve the ancestral

line of the Messiah. A famine struck the land of Israel,

and Joseph proved to be the one who provided food for

his family.

The parallels in Naomi’s situation are that she was

taken to a foreign land and that a famine threatened her

life and the life of God’s people and the ancestral line of

the Messiah was preserved in a way no one would have

dreamed—a Moabite woman became the ancestor of the

Son of God.

The point I am focusing on here is that Naomi

knew that famines were from God. Psalm 105:16–17

describes God’s action in connection with Joseph’s sale

into Egypt and the famine that came. It says that God

“summoned” the famine and that God had “sent” Joseph.

In other words, the famine and the rescue from famine

were planned by God. The psalm says, “When [God]

summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of

bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who

was sold as a slave.”

This is what Naomi believed about the famine of her

own day. It was of God. This is going to be very impor-

tant in deciding whether she is right when she says later

in this chapter, “The Almighty has brought calamity

upon me” (1:21).

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Playing with Fire

After we learn that there is a famine in Israel, we see

the family leaving Israel and going to Moab to escape the

famine. Moab is a pagan land with foreign gods (Ruth

1:15; Judges 10:6). Going to Moab was playing with fire.

God had called his people to be separate from the sur-

rounding lands. So when Naomi’s husband dies (Ruth

1:3), what could she feel but that the judgment of God

had followed her and added grief to famine? “The hand

of the Lord has gone out against me” (1:13).

Then her two sons take Moabite wives, one named

Orpah, the other named Ruth (1:4). And again the hand

of God falls. Verse 5 sums up Naomi’s tragedy after ten

years of childless marriages: “Both Mahlon and Chilion

died, so that the woman was left without her two sons

and her husband.” A famine, a move to pagan Moab, the

death of her husband, the marriage of her sons to foreign

wives, ten years of apparent childlessness for both of her

daughters-in-law, and the death of her sons—blow after

blow, tragedy upon tragedy. Now what?

“The Hand of the Lord Has Gone Out against Me”

In verse 6, Naomi gets word that “the Lord had visited

his people and given them food.” So she decides to return

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to Judah. Her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, go

with her, partway it seems, but then in verses 8–13 she

tries to persuade them to go back home. I think there are

three reasons why the writer devotes so much space to

Naomi’s effort to turn Ruth and Orpah back.

First, the scene emphasizes Naomi’s misery. For

example, verse 11: “But Naomi said, ‘Turn back, my

daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons

in my womb that they may become your husbands?’” In

other words, Naomi has nothing to offer them. Her condi-

tion is worse than theirs. If they try to be faithful to her

and to the name of their husbands, they will find nothing

but pain. So she concludes at the end of verse 13, “No, my

daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake

that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” In

other words, Don’t come with me because God is against

me. Your life may become as bitter as mine.

The Strange Custom of Marrying Kinsmen

The second reason for verses 8–13 is to prepare us

for a custom in Israel that is going to turn everything

around for Naomi in the following chapters. The custom

was that when an Israelite husband died, his brother

or near relative was to marry the widow and preserve

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the brother’s name (Deuteronomy 25:5–10). Naomi is

referring to this custom (in verse 11) when she says she

has no sons to marry Ruth and Orpah. She thinks it is

hopeless for Ruth and Orpah to remain committed to

the family name. She doesn’t remember, evidently, that

there is another relative named Boaz who might per-

form the duty of a brother.

There’s a lesson here. When we have decided that

God is against us, we usually exaggerate our hopeless-

ness. We become so bitter we can’t see the rays of light

peeping out around the clouds. It was God who broke

the famine and opened the way home (1:6). It was God

who preserved a kinsman to continue Naomi’s line

(2:20). And it was God who constrains Ruth to stay

with Naomi. But Naomi is so embittered by God’s hard

providence that she doesn’t see his mercy at work in

her life.

“Your God Will Be My God”

The third reason for verses 8–13 is to make Ruth’s faith-

fulness to Naomi appear amazing. Verse 14 says that

Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. Not

even another entreaty in verse 15 can get Ruth to leave:

“See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and

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to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” No. She will

stay. This is all the more amazing after Naomi’s grim

description of their future with her. Ruth is still young

(2:5; 4:12). Nevertheless, she stays with Naomi in spite

of an apparent future of widowhood and childlessness.

Naomi painted the future very dark, and Ruth took her

hand and walked into it with her.

The amazing words of Ruth are found in 1:16–17,

Do not urge me to leave you or to return from follow-

ing you. For where you go I will go, and where you

lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and

your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there

will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more

also if anything but death parts me from you.

The more you ponder these words, the more amaz-

ing they become. Ruth’s commitment to her destitute

mother-in-law is simply astonishing.

First, it means leaving her own family and land.

Second, it means, as far as she knows, a life of widow-

hood and childlessness, because Naomi has no man

to give her, and if she married a non-relative, Ruth’s

commitment to Naomi’s family would be lost. Third, it

means going to an unknown land with a new people and

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new customs and new language. Fourth, it was a com-

mitment even more radical than marriage: “Where you

die I will die, and there will I be buried” (1:17). In other

words, she will never return home, not even if Naomi

dies.

But the most amazing commitment of all is this:

“Your God [will be] my God” (1:16). Naomi has just

said in verse 13, “The hand of the Lord has gone out

against me.” Naomi’s experience of God was bitter-

ness. But in spite of this, Ruth forsakes her religious

heritage and makes the God of Israel her God. Perhaps

she had made that commitment years before, when her

husband told her of the great love of God for Israel and

his power at the Red Sea and his glorious purpose of

peace and righteousness. Somehow or other, Ruth had

come to trust in Naomi’s God in spite of Naomi’s bitter

experiences.

“She Laughs at the Time to Come”

Here we have a picture of God’s ideal woman—and we

will see more of her quality later. Faith in God that

sees beyond present bitter setbacks. Freedom from the

securities and comforts of the world. Courage to venture

into the unknown and the strange. Radical commit-

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ment in the relationships appointed by God. This is the

woman of Proverbs 31:25 who looks into the future with

confidence in God and laughs at the coming troubles:

“Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs

at the time to come.” Ruth is one of “the holy women

who hoped in God . . . [and did] not fear anything that is

frightening” (1 Peter 3:5–6).

It is a beautiful thing to watch a woman like this

serve Christ with courage. I have been able to do it up

close, especially in recent years, since my wife Noël is

freer to travel than when she was raising four boys.

Now, with only our teenage daughter Talitha at home,

she will travel around the world for the cause of mis-

sions and for the care of people with disabilities. If she

can, she simply takes Talitha along. If not, Talitha and

I make do at home.

Noël seems fearless to me in the way she ventures

into difficult places. When we moved into Phillips

Neighborhood in south Minneapolis—the kind of

neighborhood where you don’t homestead a house for

investment purposes—she never batted an eye. This

is where we have lived for almost thirty years. Urban

stories could be told, but there would be none about

my wife’s fear. She is Ruth-like. And with a prayer and

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dream, “Ruth” is Talitha’s middle name. O that all our

churches might breed Ruth-like women!

“Call Me Mara ”

So Ruth and Naomi return together to Bethlehem in

Judah. “And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole

town was stirred because of them. And the women said,

‘Is this Naomi?’” (1:19). That is a painful question not

only because they see that she is older and with no

husband and no sons, but also because the name Naomi

means “pleasant” or “sweet.” So she responds,

Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty

has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the

Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi,

when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty

has brought calamity upon me? (Ruth 1:20–21)

What do you make of Naomi’s theology?

At Least She Makes No Excuses for God

I would take Naomi’s theology any day over the senti-

mental views of God that permeate so many churches

today. Endless excuses are made for God’s sovereignty.

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Naomi is unshaken and sure about three things: God

exists, God is sovereign, and God has afflicted her.

The problem with Naomi is that the story of

Joseph has not gotten into her bones. We mentioned

that story earlier. Joseph too went into a foreign

country. He was sold as a slave. He was framed by

an adulteress and put in prison. He had every reason

to say, with Naomi, “The Almighty has dealt bitterly

with me.” But he was never embittered against God.

God turned it all for Joseph’s personal good and for

Israel’s national good.

The key lesson in Genesis 50:20 is this: “As for you

[Joseph says to his brothers], you meant evil against me,

but God meant it for good.” Naomi is right to believe in

a sovereign, almighty God who governs the affairs of

nations and families—and gives each day its part of pain

and pleasure, as the old Swedish hymn says.6 But she

needs to open her eyes—the eyes of her heart—to the

signs of his merciful purposes.

6Karolina W. Sandell-Berg, “Day by Day”:

Day by day, and with each passing moment,

Strength I find, to meet my trials here;

Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,

I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is kind beyond all measure,

Gives unto each day what He deems best—

Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

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Embittered Eyes Become Blind

It was God who took away the famine and opened a way

home. Naomi “had heard in the fields of Moab that the

Lord had visited his people and given them food” (1:6).

Just as surely as God brought the famine, God took it

away. Naomi could see that. But she could not see all

that God was doing. Later she will be able to look back,

in the same way we can when we read the book a second

time, and see the pointers of hope.

For example, notice the delicate touch of hope at the

end of 1:22: “And they came to Bethlehem at the begin-

ning of barley harvest.” If Naomi could only see what

this is going to mean. The barley field is where Ruth will

meet Boaz, her future husband.

Not only that, Naomi needs to open her eyes to Ruth.

What a gift! What a blessing! Yet as she and Ruth stand

before the people of Bethlehem, Naomi says in verse 21,

“The Lord has brought me back empty.” Not so, Naomi!

You are so weary with the night of adversity that you

can’t see the dawn of rejoicing.

It may help at his point to give a personal testimony

from John Knight. John is a senior director at Desiring

God.7 He has known what it is like to be treated as

7See www.desiringGod.org.

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Naomi was and to respond the way Naomi did. He also

gives us a glimpse of how God mercifully and patiently

leads his people out of the blindness of bitterness. The

following was a birthday letter8 to his son Paul who is

blind and autistic.

The 4th of July is a different sort of “Independence

Day” for me. On July 4, 1995, my multiply disabled

son entered the world, and my life came crashing

down around me—and would soon include a deep

and intense bitterness toward God.

I never denied that God existed or is powerful; I

concluded he was mean and capricious. But it also

began God’s work of creating an affection for him

and for the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. I am often

astonished, when thinking back, that I am now able

to praise God for his goodness in giving my son his

autism and blindness.

None of this happened easily or by accident. I can

point to five specific things that God brought to bear

on my life:

1. Faithful pastoral leadership. I can still remem-

ber Pastor Tom Steller . . . walking up my front steps

with a note from Pastor John. And I remember sitting

with and emailing Pastor David Michael.

These men, with great courage and biblical convic-

tion, entered into dangerous territory. My attorney, a

8Accessed 12–01–08; www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1303_real_freedom_in_jesus/.

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man trained in conflict, said that my intensity and

bitterness frightened him. But my pastors never

wavered from bringing a message of hope and abso-

lute certainty in the sovereignty and goodness of God,

even when I pushed them away.

2. Faithful people of Bethlehem Baptist Church.

Shortly after my son was born, we dropped everything

at church—our small group, volunteering, Sunday

school class, and attendance. One couple refused to

let us go and loved us with a gracious, firm, consistent

tenderness that made me want to understand how

they could love someone like me, my wife, or my son

so completely.

3. A faithful father. My own father was the first

person in the world to understand and communicate

my son’s value and inherent worth as a creation of a

good and loving God to me. Through 13 years, he has

stood with me through much pain and sorrow—and

joy.

4. A faithful wife. My wife and I have not walked

the same path; hers has been much harder than mine

for many reasons. But by the grace of God, we are

together, and I thank God every day for this woman

whose spine is made of steel and who loves me and

our four children.

5. The sovereignty of God as revealed in his

word. I remember a particularly heartbroken, bit-

ter email I sent to Pastor John. He had every right

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to discipline me, but instead wrapped the words of

the Bible around my heart. God used those words

from the Bible, among many others, to create long-

ings I didn’t have, to start a dead heart beating,

and to reveal, when I was incapable of seeing, the

beauty, sufficiency, and majesty of Jesus Christ

and his cross.

God has done it all, and it was his word that proved

decisive.

Living with a boy, now a teenager no less, who will

always be dependent on someone for all his needs is

hard. I have a daily, often hourly, fight for joy in my

salvation. Yet, through my oldest son’s daily care,

through my youngest son’s premature birth, and now

through my wife’s ongoing battle with metastatic

cancer, God is not just sustaining me, but revealing

more of his goodness because he is sovereign over all

these things, for his glory and my good.

So, on this Independence Day, I am grateful to

Jesus for my real freedom in him and for giving me

my boy to help me see it: So if the Son sets you free,

you will be free indeed (John 8:36).

Happy birthday, Paul.

Seeing is a precious gift. And bitterness is a powerful

blindness. What would Naomi say if she could see only

a fraction of the thousands of things God was doing in

the bitter providences of her life? For example, what if

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she knew that God was choosing an “unclean” outsider,

a Moabitess—just like he chose Rahab the prostitute

(Matthew 1:5; Joshua 2:1) and Tamar who played the

prostitute (Matthew 1:3; Genesis 38:15)—as the kind of

person he wanted in the bloodline of his Son, so that no

one could boast in Jewishness—or any other ethnicity?

What if she knew that part of what God was doing was

shaping a genealogy for the Messiah that would humble

the world?

What if she could see that in Ruth she would gain

a man-child, and that this man-child would be the

grandfather of the greatest king of Israel, and that

this king of Israel would be the ancestor of the King

of kings, Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe? If she

had trusted God that such things were in the offing,

she may have said,

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust him for his grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face. 9

So the chapter ends with Naomi full of sorrow and with

the horizon brightening with hope.

9Cowper, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”

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Let’s draw together some of the lessons of this

chapter.

1. God’s Sovereign Rule

Naomi got this much right. God the Almighty reigns

in all the affairs of men. He rules the affairs of nations

(Daniel 2:21) and the flight of birds (Matthew 10:29).

His providence extends from the U.S. Congress to

your kitchen. Whatever else the great women of faith

doubted, they never doubted that God governed every

part of their lives and that none could stay his hand

(Daniel 4:35).

He gives rain, and he takes rain (Job 38:26; Psalm

147:8). He gives life, and he takes life (Job 1:21). He gov-

erns the roll of dice (Proverbs 16:33) and the rise of kings

(Daniel 2:21). Nothing—from toothpicks to tyrants—is

ultimately self-determining. Everything serves (will-

ingly or not) the “the purpose of him who works all

things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians

1:11). God is the all-encompassing, all-pervading, all-

governing reality.

Naomi was right, and we should join her in this

conviction. God the Almighty reigns in all the affairs

of men.

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2. God’s Mysterious Providence

God’s providence is sometimes very hard. It’s true, God

had dealt bitterly with Naomi—at least in the short

run, it could only feel like bitterness. Perhaps someone

will say, “It was all owing to the sin of going to Moab

and marrying foreign wives.” Maybe so. But not neces-

sarily.

Psalm 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the

righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

Neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament

promises that believers will escape affliction in this life.

“Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom

of God” (Acts 14:22). “Therefore let those who suffer

according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faith-

ful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19). The one who suffered most

deserved it least: Jesus Christ. There is no sure connec-

tion between our suffering and our behavior. It is not at

all certain, therefore, that Naomi’s affliction was owing

to God’s displeasure with her.

But suppose Naomi’s calamity was owing to her

disobedience. That makes the story doubly encouraging

because it shows that God is willing and able even to

turn his judgments into joys. If Ruth was brought into

the family by sin, it is doubly astonishing that she is

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made the grandmother of David and ancestor of Jesus

Christ. Don’t ever think that the sin of your past means

there is no hope for your future.

3. God’s Good Purposes

That leads to the third lesson. Not only does God reign

in all the affairs of men, and not only is his providence

sometimes hard, but in all his works his purposes are for

the good and the greater happiness of his people. Who

would have imagined that in the worst of all times—the

period of the judges—God was quietly moving in the

tragedies of a single family to prepare the way for the

greatest king of Israel?

But not only that, he was working to fill Naomi

and Ruth and Boaz and their friends with great joy. If

anything painful has fallen on you to make your future

look hopeless, learn from Ruth that God is at work for

you right now to give you a future and a hope. Trust

him. Wait patiently. The ominous clouds are big with

mercy and will break with blessing on your head.

4. Freedom and Courage like Ruth’s

Finally, we learn that if you trust the sovereign good-

ness and mercy of God to pursue you all the days of your

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life, then you are free for radical love like Ruth’s. If God

calls, you can leave family, you can leave your job, you

can leave your homeland, and you can make risky com-

mitments and undertake new ventures. Or you can find

the freedom and courage and strength to keep a commit-

ment you already made.

Mary Slessor’s Courage

Mary Slessor (1848–1915) was a courageous mission-

ary to Calabar (Nigeria). She was born in Aberdeen,

Scotland, and was converted as a youth. “It was hell-fire

that drove her into the Kingdom, she would sometimes

say. But once there she found it to be a kingdom of love

and tenderness and mercy.”10

She was given a Bible, and her life changed.

Most of all it was the story of Christ that she

pored over and thought about. His Divine majesty,

the beauty and grace of His life, the pathos of His

death on the Cross, that affected her inexpress-

ibly. But it was His love, so strong, so tender, so

pitiful, that won her heart and devotion and filled

her with happiness and peace that suffused her

inner life like sunshine. In return she loved Him

10W. P. Livingstone, Mary Slessor of Calabar: Pioneer Missionary (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1916), 3.

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with a love so intense that it was often a pain. . . .

As the years passed she surrendered herself more

and more to His influence, and was ready for any

duty she was called upon to do for Him, no matter

how humble or exacting it might be. It was this

passion of love and gratitude, this abandonment of

self, this longing for service, that carried her into

her life-work.11

Her training for the hardships and dangers of missions

was on the city streets. She volunteered as a teacher in

a mission school. She and others ventured outdoor min-

istry and were pelted with mud and stones.

There was one gang that was resolved to break up

the mission with which she had come to be identified.

One night they closed in about her on the street. The

leader carried a leaden weight at the end of a piece

of cord, and swung it threateningly around her head.

She stood her ground. Nearer and nearer the missile

came. It shaved her brow. She never winced. The

weight crashed to the ground. “She’s game, boys,” he

exclaimed. To show their appreciation of her spirit

they went in a body to the meeting. There her bright

eyes, her sympathy, and her firmness shaped them

into order and attention.12

11Ibid. , 8.

12Ibid., 9.

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When people objected to her going to Calabar, which was

called “the white man’s grave,” she would answer that

“Calabar was the post of danger, and was therefore the

post of honour.”13

The reason Mary Slessor could act with courage

in the cause of Christ was that she knew herself to be

secure under the wings of God. Not that she could not

be killed, but that even the hand of death was the hand

of Christ.

I do not like that petition in the Prayer Book, From

sudden death, good Lord, deliver us. I never could

pray it. It is surely far better to see Him at once with-

out pain of parting or physical debility. Why should

we not be like the apostle in his confident outburst

of praise and assurance, “For I am persuaded . . . ”?

Don’t talk about the cold hand of death—it is the

hand of Christ.14

When you believe in the sovereignty of God and that he

loves to work mightily for those who trust him, it gives a

freedom and courage that isn’t abandoned in hard times.

The story of Ruth—and of all the courageous women who

followed her—gives us a glimpse into the hidden work of

13Ibid., 18.

14Ibid., 324.

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God during the worst of times. And so like all the other

Scriptures, as Paul says (Romans 15:4, 13), the book of

Ruth was written that we might abound in hope—and in

that hope live lives of Christ-exalting courage.

5. The Glory of Christ

The ground of our love-releasing hope is not only that

in the worst of times God is at work generally for our

good, but also that he is working all things specifically

for the glory of his Son, Jesus Christ—son of David, son

of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Ruth the Moabitess. We

“cheated” and read the end of Ruth first. This is where

it is all going (Ruth 4:21–22).

And the glory of Christ is supremely the glory of

grace. And that grace was shown supremely in the cross

where all our sins were covered and all God’s promises

are secured. Every lasting blessing that came to Ruth

and Naomi and Boaz was bought by the blood of Christ

a millennium after the blessing was given. Without

Christ, sin has no final remission. And where sin has

no remission, guilt remains. And where guilt remains,

the wrath of God remains. And where the wrath of God

remains, there is no lasting blessing, but only everlast-

ing misery.

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Therefore, the very wonder of God’s gracious provi-

dence to make a Moabite an ancestor of Jesus was itself

made possible by the death of Jesus for that Moabite on

Calvary. The blessings of Christ’s blood flow backward

and forward in history. “God put [Christ] forward as a

propitiation by his blood . . . to show God’s righteous-

ness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed

over former sins” (Romans 3:25). In other words, all of

Ruth’s sins were laid on Jesus when he died. And all of

God’s wrath toward her was removed. God counted her

as righteous because of Christ. Christ was the ground

of all the good that she received. And all of it magnifies

his glory.

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C H A P T E R T W O

UNDER THE WINGS

OF GOD

The Lord repay you for what you have done,

and a full reward be given you by the Lord,

the God of Israel, under whose wings

you have come to take refuge!

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Now Naomi had a relative of her husband’s, a worthy

man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to

the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in

whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go,

my daughter.” 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in

the field after the reapers, and she happened to come

to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of

the clan of Elimelech. 4 And behold, Boaz came from

Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be

with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.”

5 Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge

of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?” 6 And the

servant who was in charge of the reapers answered,

“She is the young Moabite woman, who came back with

Naomi from the country of Moab. 7 She said, ‘Please

let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the

reapers.’ So she came, and she has continued from early

morning until now, except for a short rest.”

8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now, listen, my daughter,

do not go to glean in another field or leave this one,

but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be

on the field that they are reaping, and go after them.

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Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?

And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink

what the young men have drawn.” 10 Then she fell on

her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why

have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take

notice of me, since I am a foreigner?” 11 But Boaz an-

swered her, “All that you have done for your mother-

in-law since the death of your husband has been fully

told to me, and how you left your father and mother

and your native land and came to a people that you

did not know before. 12 The Lord repay you for what

you have done, and a full reward be given you by the

Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have

come to take refuge!” 13 Then she said, “I have found

favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me

and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not

one of your servants.”

14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here and

eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” So

she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted

grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had

some left over. 15 When she rose to glean, Boaz instructed

his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the

sheaves, and do not reproach her. 16 And also pull out

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some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to

glean, and do not rebuke her.”

17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she

beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an

ephah of barley. 18 And she took it up and went into the

city. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She

also brought out and gave her what food she had left

over after being satisfied. 19 And her mother-in-law said

to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you

worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So

she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked

and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today

is Boaz.” 20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law,

“May he be blessed by the Lord, whose kindness has

not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said

to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our

redeemers.” 21 And Ruth the Moabite said, “Besides, he

said to me, ‘You shall keep close by my young men until

they have finished all my harvest.’” 22 And Naomi said

to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter,

that you go out with his young women, lest in another

field you be assaulted.” 23 So she kept close to the young

women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley

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and wheat harvests. And she lived with her mother-

in-law.

THE HAND OF GOD HAD FALLEN hard upon Naomi

and her family—a famine in Judah, a move to Moab, the

death of her husband, the marriage of her sons to for-

eign wives, ten years of apparent childlessness for both

daughters-in-law, then the death of her sons, and the

departure of one of her daughters-in-law. One blow after

another caused Naomi to say, “The hand of the Lord has

gone out against me. . . . [T]he Almighty has dealt very

bitterly with me” (1:13, 20).

In fact, she is so oppressed by God’s bitter provi-

dence in her life that she can’t see the signs of hope

as they start to appear. She knows there is a God. She

knows he is sovereign and rules over the national and

personal affairs of men. And she knows that God has

dealt bitterly with her. Her life is tragic. What she does

not see with the eyes of her heart is that in all her bitter

experiences, God is plotting for her glory. This is true

of all God’s children. In the darkest of our times, God

is plotting for our glory. If we would believe this and

remember it, we would not be as blind as Naomi was

when God began to reveal his grace.

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Sweet Providence Unseen

Sweet providence, as well as bitter, came to Naomi. God

lifted the famine and opened a way home. He gave her

an amazingly devoted and loving daughter-in-law to

accompany her. And he preserved a kinsman of Naomi’s

husband who would someday marry Ruth and preserve

Naomi’s line.

But Naomi appears unmoved from her sorrows by

any of this merciful providence. When she returned

to Bethlehem, she said to the townspeople, “I went

away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty.

Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified

against me and the Almighty has brought calamity

upon me?” (1:21). So Ruth and bitter Naomi settle

in Bethlehem. In the second chapter of Ruth, the

mercy of God becomes so obvious that even Naomi

will recognize it.

In verses 1–7, we meet Boaz, we see the character of

Ruth, and we sense a very merciful providence behind

this scene.

A God-Saturated Man

Boaz, we learn, is a relative of Elimelech, Naomi’s long-

deceased husband. Immediately we realize that things

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are not nearly as bleak as Naomi said they were back

in 1:11–13 when she gave the impression that there was

no one for Ruth and Orpah to marry to carry on the line

of their husbands. For the person reading this story

the first time, Boaz is like a bright crack in the cloud of

bitterness hanging over Naomi. It’s going to get bigger

and bigger.

For example, verse 1 says that Boaz is “a worthy

man.” The Hebrew phrase for “worthy man” is also

translated “man of valor” (1 Samuel 16:18), “mighty

man” (1 Chronicles 28:1), “man of wealth” (1 Samuel

9:1), and “very able” (1 Kings 11:28). It is a broad com-

mendation of Boaz’s strength and ability and courage

and success. He is an admirable man.

But more important than his reputation, he is a

man of God. We see this in verse 4 where the author

pauses to record an incidental detail; he tells us how

Boaz greeted his servants. “And behold, Boaz came

from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, ‘The Lord

be with you!’ And they answered, ‘The Lord bless you.’”

If you want to know a man’s relation to God, it helps

to find out how far God has saturated him down to the

details of his everyday life. Evidently Boaz was such a

God-saturated man that his farming business and his

relationships to his employees was shot through with

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God. He greeted them with God. And we will see that

these were more than pious platitudes.

A Woman of Initiative, Lowliness,

and Industry

Besides meeting Boaz in verses 1–7, we also see the

qualities of Ruth’s character, which will be crucial in

what this chapter intends to teach.

First, she took the initiative to care for her mother-

in-law. Naomi does not command Ruth to get out and

work. Ruth says, “Let me go to the field and glean among

the ears of grain” (2:2). Ruth has committed herself to

Naomi with amazing devotion, and she takes the initia-

tive to work and provide for her.

Second, Ruth is humble. She knows how to take

initiative without being presumptuous. The servants

report to Boaz how she had approached them that

morning. She had said, “Please let me glean and gather

among the sheaves after the reapers” (2:7). She does

not demand a handout. She does not presume the right

even to glean at the edges of the field. All she wants

to do is gather up the leftovers after the reapers are

done, and she asks permission even to do that. She is

like another foreign woman who came to Jesus and

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said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that

fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27). To this

Jesus responded by commending her faith. Ruth knows

how to take initiative, but she is not pushy or presump-

tuous but meek and humble.

Third, she is industrious. She is an amazing worker.

Boaz’s servants tell him, “She has continued from early

morning until now, except for a short rest” (2:7). Verse

17 goes on to say that she gleaned until evening, and

then before she quit, she beat out what she gleaned,

measured it, and took it home to Naomi.

There is no doubt that the writer wants us to

admire and imitate Ruth. She takes initiative to care

for her destitute mother-in-law. She is humble and

meek and does not put herself forward presumptu-

ously. And she works hard from sunup to sundown.

Initiative. Lowliness. Industry. Worthy traits. We will

see them again.

“She Happened to Come”

But before we leave verses 1–7, did you sense a merciful

providence behind all this? Notice verse 3: “So she set

out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers,

and she happened to come to the part of the field belong-

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ing to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.” She just

“happened to come”?

You don’t have to make your theology of providence

explicit in every line. Sometimes it’s good to leave some-

thing ambiguous to give your reader a chance to fill in

the blank if he has caught on. The answer can be given

later. It will be. In fact, Naomi, with her grand theology

of God’s sovereignty, is the one who will give the answer.

She praises the Lord “whose kindness has not forsaken

the living or the dead!” (2:20). The answer is God—the

merciful providence of God—guiding Ruth as she gleans.

Ruth happened to come to Boaz’s field because God is

gracious and sovereign even when he is silent. “A man’s

steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand

his way?” (Proverbs 20:24).

Now Boaz approaches Ruth and shows her great

kindness, even though she is a foreigner. He pro-

vides food by telling her to work in his field and

stay close behind his maidens (2:8). He provides

protection by telling the young men not to molest her

(2:9). And he provides for her thirst by telling her to

drink from what the men have drawn (2:9). So all of

Boaz’s wealth and godliness begin to turn for Ruth’s

welfare.

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“Why Have I Found Favor in Your Sight?”

Now we come to the most important interchange in the

chapter—verses 10–13. Ruth raises a question to Boaz

that turns out to be very profound. It’s one that we all

need to ask God. Hardly anything in our life is more

important than the answer we get.

“Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and

said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your eyes, that

you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’”

(2:10). Ruth knows that she is a Moabitess. From a

natural viewpoint, she is at a great disadvantage; she is

a foreigner. She does not resent this but accepts it. As a

non-Israelite, she does not expect any special treatment.

Her response to Boaz’s kindness is humble astonish-

ment.

She is different from most people today. We have

a sense of entitlement. We expect kindness and are

astonished and resentful if we don’t get our “rights.”

But Ruth expresses her sense of unworthiness by fall-

ing on her face and bowing to the ground. Proud people

don’t feel amazed at being treated well. They don’t

feel deep gratefulness. But humble people do. In fact,

they are made even more humble by being treated gra-

ciously. They are so amazed that grace came to them

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in their unworthiness that they feel even more lowly.

But they receive the gift. Joy increases, not self-impor-

tance. Grace is not intended to replace lowliness with

pride. It’s intended to replace sorrow with joy.

“Because You Took Refuge under the

Wings of God”

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Ruth asks why

Boaz has treated her so graciously—or why God had

ordained for Boaz to be so gracious. “Why have I found

favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me,

since I am a foreigner?” (2:10). Boaz’s answer is crucial

to this chapter, indeed to the rest of the book:

But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for

your mother-in-law since the death of your husband

has been fully told to me, and how you left your father

and mother and your native land and came to a people

that you did not know before. The Lord repay you for

what you have done, and a full reward be given you

by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you

have come to take refuge!” (2:11–12)

Notice: When Ruth asks why she is being shown grace,

Boaz does not answer that this grace has no conditions.

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He answers her question Why? by saying, “Because you

have loved Naomi so much that you were willing to

leave father and mother to serve her in a strange land.”

Does this mean that the writer wants us to think

of Ruth’s love for Naomi as a work that merits Boaz’s

favor and the favor of God? Does he want us to think of

grace as a kindness we earn? I don’t think so. If Ruth

has earned the favor of Boaz (and of God), then we must

think of her as a kind of employee rendering service to

her employer—a service that is so valuable that he is

indebted to pay her. She merits the pay. That’s not the

image the writer wants to create in our minds. Verse 12

gives another image that makes the employer-employee

image impossible.

Boaz says in verse 12 that God is really the one who

is rewarding Ruth for her love to Naomi. Boaz is only

the instrument of God—as we will learn from Naomi

in just a moment. But now notice the words, “The Lord

repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be

given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose

wings you have come to take refuge!” In spite of the

word “repay” (which could be translated “reward” or

“recompense”), this verse does not encourage us to pic-

ture Ruth as an employee of God providing needed labor

that he then as employer rewards with a good wage. The

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picture is of God as a great winged Eagle and Ruth as a

threatened little eaglet coming to find safety under the

Eagle’s wings. The implication of verse 12 is that God

will reward Ruth because she has sought refuge under

his wings.

How God Upholds the Worth of His Name

This is a common teaching in the Old Testament. For

example, Psalm 57:1 says, “Be merciful to me, O God,

be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in

the shadow of your wings I will take refuge.” Notice the

word for. “Be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes

refuge.” Why should God show mercy to Ruth? Because

she has sought refuge under his wings.

She has esteemed God’s protection superior to all

others. She has set her heart on God for hope and joy.

And when a person does that, God’s honor—not the

value of our work—is at stake, and he will be merciful. If

you plead God’s value as the source of your hope instead

of pleading your value as a reason for God’s blessing,

then his unwavering commitment to his own glory

engages all his heart for your protection and joy.

Boaz prayed that God would reward Ruth for all

that she had done for her mother-in-law. “A full reward

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be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose

wings you have come to take refuge!” (2:12). Now we see

that this “reward” is not a kind of justification by works

or salvation by merit. We see that the way God works is

to bless those who hope in his work for them, not their

work for him. “His delight is not in the strength of the

horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord

takes pleasure in those . . . who hope in his steadfast

love” (Psalm 147:10–11).

The reason God acts this way is that his righteous-

ness commits him to uphold the worth of his name. So

when we come to him pleading the worth of his name,

not ours, he helps us. “For your name’s sake, O Lord,

pardon my guilt, for it is great” (Psalm 25:11). Pardon

and blessing come to those who look away from their

own worth to the worth of God’s name. It is God’s righ-

teousness to stand by his name. “For your name’s sake,

O Lord, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring

my soul out of trouble!” (Psalm 143:11).

Therefore, we are hearing something very profound

when we hear Boaz say, in effect, “Ruth, because you

have come to take refuge under the wings of God, there-

fore I pray he will vindicate the power and grace of his

wings and give you what you need.”

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Where the Eagle Moves I Will Move

But we must ask how Ruth’s love for Naomi and her

leaving her own family relate to her seeking refuge

under the wings of God. The most likely suggestion is

that Ruth was able to leave the refuge of her father and

mother in Moab because she had found a far superior

refuge—under the wings of God. And evidently she saw

a need in Naomi’s life and sensed God’s calling to meet

that need. The Eagle moved toward Naomi, and in order

to keep enjoying the refuge of God’s wings, Ruth moves,

too, and commits herself to care for Naomi with the care

she is receiving from her Eagle.

How the Christian Life Works

This is the way the Christian life is meant to work.

Peter and Paul say it in their own unique ways. Peter

says, “Whoever serves, [let him serve] as one who serves

by the strength that God supplies—in order that in

everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ”

(1 Peter 4:11). We take refuge under the wings of God

and get our strength from him. And with that strength

we serve others (like Ruth served Naomi). God responds

to this kind of “faith working through love” (Galatians

5:6) because in this way he is glorified.

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Similarly, Paul says, “By the grace of God I am

what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them,

though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me”

(1 Corinthians 15:10). Paul worked hard, just like Ruth

worked hard from sunup to sundown. But he worked in

God’s strength. He had come under the wings of God and

was getting his strength from him. Paul did not earn

God’s grace with his hard work. Grace made his hard

work possible. That’s the way it was with Ruth. Boaz

does not mean that she will find favor with God because

of her work. Rather, she found favor with God by coming

under his wings as an undeserving Moabitess. And in

the strength of that favor she was working.

The Source of Risk-Taking Love

So the relation between taking refuge under God’s

wings, on the one hand, and leaving home to care for

Naomi, on the other hand, is that being under God’s

wings enabled Ruth to forsake human refuge and give

herself in love to Naomi. Or another way to say it is

that leaving home and loving Naomi are the result and

evidence of taking refuge in God. This is why I said in

the introduction that one of the aims of this book is to

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release radical, risk-taking love. It comes from humble

confidence in the mighty and merciful wings of God.

So now back to Ruth’s question in verse 10: “Why

have I found favor?” The answer is that she has taken

refuge under the wings of God and that this has given

her the freedom and the desire to leave home and love

Naomi. She has not earned mercy from God or Boaz. She

is not their employee. They are not paying her wages

for her work. On the contrary, she has honored them by

admitting her need for their work and by taking refuge

in their generosity.

No “Help Wanted”

This is the message of the biblical gospel. God will have

mercy on anyone (Palestinian or Israelite or American)

who humbles himself, like Ruth, and takes refuge under

the wings of God. Jesus said,

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the proph-

ets and stones those who are sent to it! How often

would I have gathered your children together as a hen

gathers her brood under her wings, and you would

not! Behold, your house is forsaken. (Luke 13:34–35)

All the Pharisees had to do was to take refuge under the

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wings of Jesus. Stop trying to justify themselves (Luke

10:29; 16:15; 18:9). Stop relying on themselves. Stop

glorifying themselves. But they would not. Ruth was

not their model. No falling on their face before Jesus. No

bowing down. No astonishment at grace. Don’t be like

the Pharisees. Be like Ruth.

While jogging in my neighborhood, I used to see a

graphic illustration of this difference. For several years,

as I ran east on Franklin Avenue and then south on

Cedar, I would pass a tool-and-die shop. There was a

permanent “help wanted” sign bolted above the door. But

almost every time I ran by, a big red “NO” was fastened

on top of “help wanted.” Every time I saw it, I rejoiced in

this picture of the gospel. The good news is that God does

not need our help. The gospel is not an employment ad.

God is not an employer looking for employees. He is

an Eagle looking for people who will take refuge under

his wings. He is looking for people who will leave father

and mother and homeland or anything else that may hold

them back from a life of love under the wings of Jesus.

Awakening to the Kindness of God

Let’s close this chapter by getting back to Naomi briefly.

Boaz gives Ruth all she can eat for lunch (2:14). She

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works till sundown. She returns to Naomi and gives

her the leftovers from lunch and all the grain. She tells

her what happened with Boaz (2:17–19). At this point,

Naomi’s theology of God’s sovereignty serves her well.

She says, “May he be blessed by the Lord, whose

kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” (2:20).

Whose kindness is she praising? Boaz’s or the Lord’s?

Surely, she is praising the Lord’s kindness. Boaz had

just begun to show kindness to the dead. It was God who

seemed to have forsaken it. But the Lord’s kindness has

not forsaken the living (Naomi and Ruth) or the dead

(Elimelech and Mahlon and Chilion).

It was the Lord who stopped the famine. It was the

Lord who bound Ruth to Naomi in love. It was the Lord

who preserved Boaz for Ruth. It was no coincidence

that Ruth happened to come to Boaz’s field. It was no

coincidence that Boaz happened to show favor to this

poor foreigner. The Lord directed her steps and his

favor. The light of God’s love has finally broken through

bright enough for Naomi to see. The Lord is kind. He is

good to all who take refuge under his wings.

With Ruth and Naomi, let us fall on our faces, bow

before the Lord, confess our unworthiness, take refuge

under the wings of God, and be astonished at his grace.

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C H A P T E R T H R E E

STRATEGIC

RIGHTEOUSNESS

And now, my daughter, do not fear.

I will do for you all that you ask,

for all my fellow townsmen know that you

are a worthy woman.

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Strategic Righteousness

Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daugh-

ter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well

with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young

women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight

at the threshing floor. 3 Wash therefore and anoint your-

self, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing

floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until

he has finished eating and drinking. 4 But when he lies

down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and un-

cover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to

do.” 5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”

6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did

just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. 7 And

when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was

merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of

grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet

and lay down. 8 At midnight the man was startled

and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet!

9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am

Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your ser-

vant, for you are a redeemer.” 10 And he said, “May

you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have

made this last kindness greater than the first in that

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you have not gone after young men, whether poor or

rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do

for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen

know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it

is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer

nearer than I. 13 Remain tonight, and in the morning,

if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is

not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I

will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”

14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose

before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let

it not be known that the woman came to the thresh-

ing floor.” 15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are

wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he mea-

sured out six measures of barley and put it on her.

Then she went into the city. 16 And when she came to

her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my

daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had

done for her, 17 saying, “These six measures of barley

he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back

empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’” 18 She replied,

“Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter

turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the

matter today.”

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The Clouds Are Big with Mercy

The story of Ruth began with the bitter providence of

God in the life of Naomi as she left her land and lost her

husband, her sons, and one of her daughters-in-law. But

there was sweet providence as well. The famine broke

in Judah, and Naomi could go home. Ruth committed

herself to care for Naomi. And all the while, a kinsman

named Boaz was preserved as a husband for Ruth to

raise up an heir for the family name. But the first chap-

ter ends with Naomi overwhelmed with her losses: “The

Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (1:20).

In chapter 2, the mercy of God breaks through

bright enough for even Naomi to see it. We meet Boaz,

a man of worth, a man of God, and a relative of Naomi’s

husband. We see Ruth taking refuge under the wings of

God in a foreign land and being led mercifully by God

to the field of Boaz to glean. And we see Naomi recover

from her long night of despondency as she exults in God:

“[The Lord’s] kindness has not forsaken the living or the

dead!” (2:20).

Chapter 2 overflows with hope. Boaz is a God-

saturated man in his business and personal relations

(2:4, 10–13). Ruth is a God-dependent woman under the

wings of God. Naomi is now a God-exalting woman under

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the sovereignty of God. All the darkness of chapter 1 is

gone. God has turned her mourning into dancing. “The

Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (1:20) has given

way to “[His] kindness has not forsaken the living or the

dead!” (2:20). The lesson so far is surely at least this:

You fearful saints, fresh courage take:

The clouds you so much dread

Are big with mercy and will break

In blessings on your head. 1

Seek refuge under the wings of God, even when they

seem to cast only shadows, and at just the right time

God will let you look out from his Eagle’s nest onto some

spectacular sunrise.

Hope: The Birthplace of Dreams

As we turn to chapter 3, keep in mind the phrase strate-

gic righteousness. The question this chapter answers is,

What do a God-saturated man, a God-dependent young

woman, and a God-exalting older woman do when they

are filled with hope in the sovereign goodness of God?

The answer is that they manifest what I am going to call

strategic righteousness.

1William Cowper (1731–1800), “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.”

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By righteousness I mean a zeal for doing what is

good and right—a zeal for doing what is fitting when

God is taken into account as sovereign and merciful. By

strategic I mean that there is intention, purposefulness,

planning. There is a kind of inactive righteousness that

simply avoids evil. But strategic righteousness takes

the initiative and dreams of how to make things right.

One of the lessons I have learned from this chapter

is that hope helps us dream. Hope helps us think up

ways to do good. Hope helps us pursue our ventures with

virtue and integrity. It’s hopelessness that makes people

think they have to lie and steal and seize illicit pleasures

for the moment. But hope, based on the confidence that

a sovereign God is for us, gives us a thrilling impulse

that I call strategic righteousness. We see it in Naomi in

3:1–5, in Ruth in 3:6–9, and in Boaz in 3:10–15. And the

chapter closes again with Naomi full of confidence in the

power and goodness of God.

The Offspring of Naomi’s Hope

Two things stand out in Naomi’s strategy in 3:1–5. One

is that she has a strategy; and the other is what that

strategy is.

The sheer fact that Naomi has a strategy teaches

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us something. People who feel like victims rarely make

plans. As long as Naomi was oppressed, as long as she

could only say, “The Almighty has dealt very bitterly

with me,” she conceived no strategy for the future.

One of the terrible effects of depression is the inabil-

ity to move purposefully and hopefully into the future.

Strategies of righteousness are the overflow of hope.

When Naomi awakens in 2:20 to the kindness of God,

her hope comes alive, and the overflow is strategic

righteousness. She is concerned about finding Ruth a

place of provision and protection. So she makes a plan.

One of the reasons we must help each other “hope

in God” (Psalm 42:5) is that only hopeful people, hopeful

families, and hopeful churches plan and strategize. I feel

a special calling to impart hope to the church I serve.

Churches that feel no hope develop a maintenance men-

tality and just go through the motions year in and year

out. But when a church feels the sovereign kindness

of God hovering overhead and moving, hope starts to

thrive, and righteousness ceases to be simply the avoid-

ance of evil and becomes active and strategic.

Naomi takes the initiative to find a husband for

Ruth. But the strategy she comes up with is odd, to

say the least. She says that Boaz is a relative (3:2), and

therefore he is the likely candidate for being Ruth’s hus-

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band—that way the family name and family inheritance

will stay in the family, according to Hebrew custom.

The Incredible Plan

So Naomi’s aim is clear: to win for Ruth a godly husband

and a secure future and preserve the family line. So she

tells Ruth to make herself as clean and attractive as pos-

sible, go to the threshing floor of Boaz, and after he has

lain down for the evening, sneak in, lift up his cloak, and

lie down at his feet. Everybody, including Ruth, must

respond by thinking, “And just where do you suppose

that will lead?” To which Naomi gives the extraordinary

answer, “He will tell you what to do” (3:4).

One thing is clear here, and one thing is not. It’s

clear that this is Naomi’s way of trying to get Boaz to

marry Ruth. It is not clear why she should go about it

like this. Why not a conversation with Boaz instead of

this highly suggestive and risky midnight maneuver?

Was Naomi indifferent to the possibility that Boaz might

drive Ruth away in moral indignation, or that he might

give in to the temptation to have sexual relations with

her? Did Naomi want that to happen? Or was Naomi so

sure of Boaz and Ruth that she knew they would treat

each other with perfect purity—that Boaz would be

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deeply moved by this outright offer of Ruth in marriage

and would avoid sexual relations until all was duly sol-

emnized by the city elders?

The author doesn’t come right out and tell us why

Naomi chose this sexually tempting strategy to win

Boaz for Ruth. There will be a clue later, but for now

the writer seems to want us to feel suspense and ambi-

guity. Just where did Ruth lie down? “When he lies

down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and

uncover his feet and lie down” (3:4). The Hebrew is just

as ambiguous as the English. Perpendicular? Parallel?

Overlapping?

“And he will tell you what to do” (3:4). Yes. But

what would Boaz tell her to do? Whatever Naomi’s

motive was, the situation is one that could lead us into

a passionate and illicit scene of sexual intercourse,

or into a stunning scene of purity, integrity, and self-

control.

Ruth’s Righteous Risk

Next we see Ruth’s strategic righteousness in verses

6–9. Ruth said that she would follow all of Naomi’s

instructions. “All that you say I will do” (3:5). But Ruth

does more. Naomi had said that Boaz would tell Ruth

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what to do. Before that happens, Ruth tells Boaz why

she has come. She is lying at his feet under his cloak.

He awakes and says, “Who are you?” She answers with

words unprompted by Naomi, “I am Ruth, your servant.

Spread your wings2 over your servant, for you are a

redeemer” (3:9).

Ruth is not merely Naomi’s pawn. She has gone

willingly, and now she takes the initiative to make clear

to Boaz why she is there. “You are next of kin.” Or liter-

ally, “You are the redeemer: the one who can redeem

our inheritance and our family name from being lost. I

want you to fill that role for me. I want to be your wife.”

She doesn’t say it outright. In fact, she is less direct and

more enticing. She says, “Spread your wings over your

servant.” Now whether Boaz takes this to be an offer

of outright sexual relations or something more subtle

and profound will depend on his estimate of Ruth’s

character. Fornication was wrong in the Old Testament

(Leviticus 19:29; Deuteronomy 22:13–21), just as in the

New Testament (Matthew 15:19).

2This is a literal and very helpful translation, as we will see. Other versions

translate it loosely as “spread the corner of your garment over me” (niv); or

“spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid” (kjv); or “spread your covering

over your maid” (nasb). The word is literally “wings” and usually, in combination

with “spreads,” refers to what birds do with their wings (Deuteronomy 32:11;

Jeremiah 48:40; 49:22; Job 39:26). The reason the word “wings” is so important

to preserve is the connection with Ruth 2:12: “The Lord repay you for what you

have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under

whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

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“You Became Mine”

Two things, besides Ruth’s character, suggest some-

thing subtle and profound—not immoral—is in fact

going on here. One is this: The only other place in the

Old Testament where the phrase “spreading the wings”

occurs in relation to lovers is found in Ezekiel 16:8. God

is describing Israel as a young maiden whom he took

for his wife. “When I passed by you again and saw you,

behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the cor-

ner of my garment over you [literally, “spread my wings

over you”] and covered your nakedness; I made my vow

to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares

the Lord God, and you became mine.” If this is any indi-

cation of what Ruth wanted from Boaz, the request went

far beyond sexual relations. She was saying in effect, “I

would like to be the one to whom you pledge your faith-

fulness and with whom you make a marriage covenant.”

“Spread Your Wings over Me”

But there is more to it than that—and this is the second

indication of subtlety and depth here. When Ruth said,

“Spread your wings over your servant,” the word for

“wings” in Hebrew is the same word that Boaz had used

back in 2:12. This was the key phrase we focused on

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in the previous chapter. Boaz says to Ruth, “The Lord

repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be

given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose

wings you have come to take refuge!” What we saw

was that Boaz was God’s agent to reward Ruth. He

gave her free access to his field and protection from the

young men and water from the well. Ruth had said to

Boaz, “Why have I found favor in your eyes?” And Boaz

answered, “Because you have come to take refuge under

the wings of God.”

What then is going on in chapter 3? Here’s my sug-

gestion. Ruth has told Naomi about these words of Boaz.

And the more they ponder them, the more they become

convinced that they are laden with subtle loving inten-

tions. What Boaz really means is, “Because you take ref-

uge under the wings of God, you are the kind of woman

I want to cover with my wings.”

It is not easy for an older man to express love to a

younger woman. It would be doubly humiliating if she

declined—both because he is a man and because he pre-

sumed to think a younger woman would be interested

in him. Boaz did it with deeds of kindness and subtle

words of admiration. He said he admired her for coming

under God’s wings. He acted as though she were under

his, and he waited.

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A Subtle Way of Saying Yes

In the course of time, Naomi and Ruth hit upon a response

just as subtle, just as profound. Ruth will come to him in

his sleep, in the grain field where he has taken her under

his care, and she will say yes. But she will say it with an

action just as subtle as the action and words of Boaz. She

puts herself under his wing, so to speak, and when he

wakes, everything hangs on one sentence and whether

Ruth has interpreted Boaz correctly.

I imagine her pulse racing as Boaz awoke. Then

come the all-important words: “I am Ruth . . . spread

your wing over your maidservant.” I picture an immense

silence for a moment while Boaz let himself believe that

this magnificent woman had really understood—had so

profoundly and sensitively understood. A middle-aged

man3 is interested in a young widow whom he discreetly

calls “my daughter” (2:8; 3:10–11), uncertain whether

her heart might be going after the younger men, commu-

nicating with a subtle word picture that he wants to be

God’s wings for her. Then a young widow gradually reads

between the lines and finally risks an interpretation by

coming in the middle of the night to take refuge under

the wing of his garment. That’s powerful stuff! Anybody

3We know Boaz is older because he says to Ruth, “You have not gone after young

men” (Ruth 3:10).

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who thinks that a loose woman and a finagling mother-

in-law are at work here are missing something beautiful.

All is subtle. All is righteous. All is strategic.

Sex Will Be Subordinate to Strategic

Righteousness

Now comes the strategic righteousness of Boaz in verses

10–15. To hear what he says in the right way, you have

to remember that it is midnight, they are under the

stars, and he is looking down into the face of the woman

he desires, covered with his own cloak next to his feet.

And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my

daughter. You have made this last kindness greater

than the first in that you have not gone after young

men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter,

do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all

my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy

woman.” (3:10–11)

And then comes a word of magnificent righteousness

and self-control. He says in effect, “According to custom,

Ruth, there is another who has prior claim to you, and I

won’t be able to proceed until all things are duly settled

with him.”

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And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is

a redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight, and in the

morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But

if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord

lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.

(3:12–13)

The stars are beautiful overhead, it is midnight, he

desires her, she desires him, they are alone, she is under

his cloak . . . and he stops it for the sake of righteousness

and does not touch her. What a man! What a woman!

Let the Morning Dawn on Your Purity

The mood of American life today is, If it feels good, do it,

and away with guilt-producing, puritanical principles

of chastity and faithfulness. But I say to you who are

unmarried, if the stars are shining in their beauty, and

your blood is thudding like a hammer, and you are safe

in the privacy of your place, stop . . . for the sake of

righteousness. Let the morning dawn on your purity.

I close this chapter by pleading with you to stand

with Boaz and Ruth in your commitment never to have

sexual relations outside of marriage. I know that many

of you have already failed. There is hope for forgive-

ness. When the apostle Paul described the Christians

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in Corinth, he included the “sexually immoral,” “adul-

terers,” “men who practice homosexuality,” along with

the thieves and greedy and drunkards and swindlers.

But then he said, “Such were some of you. But you were

washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the

name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our

God” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11). If you have failed sexually,

there is forgiveness and cleansing in the offspring of

Ruth and Boaz—Jesus Christ.

But for those who have not yet had sexual relations

outside marriage—indeed for all who hope to fight for

future holiness—I am pleading with you, for your own

sake and for the glory of Christ, that you embrace the

strategic righteousness of Ruth and Boaz. They are mod-

els of deep, strong, righteous, passionate love—better

models than politicians and movie stars.

The Purity of the Moment and the Purposes

of Eternity

Let’s put that night in a larger context. What’s happen-

ing in this phenomenal triumph of purity is the mak-

ing of the ancestor of Jesus. Ruth is about to be folded

purely and righteously by Boaz into a line that will

give birth to Jesus Christ. The purity of the moment

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and the purposes of eternity come together at this holy

moment. Don’t miss this. It is relevant for you and your

sexual life.

Perhaps you are there in the seeming seclusion

and safety of your apartment or on the road where

no one knows you. Perhaps she seems so willing. She

may already be in your bed. At that moment, a mag-

nificent act of righteous manhood is possible. Say to her,

“Because I love you, and because I love God, and because

I have seen the connection between high purity and his-

toric purposes, we will wait.”

I promise you, God will honor that. He will honor

it more vastly than you can imagine. God honored the

strategic righteousness of Boaz and Ruth with the

last chapter of the story. It culminates in the promise

of a coming king through Boaz and a Moabite. “Boaz

fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered

David,” and David fathered the Messiah, Jesus Christ

(4:21–22; Matthew 22:41–46).

Let the beautiful righteousness of Naomi’s risky

plan awaken your creativity in the cause of purity. Let

Ruth’s sensitive discernment of this older man’s heart

deepen your wisdom in the high duties of life. Let Boaz’s

massive willpower in the service of strategic righteous-

ness stir up in you a great, noble vision of sexual life:

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“We will wait. We will wait till all is made righteous

according to the word of God.”

The sexual temptations of our day are pervasive and

powerful, just like they were that night in Bethlehem

(2:4; 4:11). Bethlehem—think of it! Perhaps this tri-

umph of purity took place near the very spot where, a

thousand years later, a virgin would give birth to Jesus,

the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the

son of a pure union between Boaz and Ruth.

“I Know Where I Am Standing”

When you hear the ridicule of those who think you are

crazy for not having sex outside of marriage, imagine

Boaz and Ruth looking down from heaven in their mas-

sively strong and holy manhood and womanhood, glo-

rified in strength and courage and righteousness and

purposefulness. Then say to those who ridicule you,

“No. I know where I am standing. I know what life is

about. I know how purity relates to the grand purposes

of God. I know the roots and the righteousness of Jesus

Christ. I am going to wait.”

And if waiting means never having sexual relations

in this life, then set your face to be among the number

who join Jesus Christ in that hall of fame. He never had

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sex. But he is the most fully human person who has ever

existed.

Don’t be like the world. Be like Boaz. Be like Ruth.

Profound in love. Subtle and perceptive in communica-

tion. Powerful in self-control. Committed to strategic

righteousness.

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C H A P T E R F O U R

MAY MY REDEEMER

BE RENOWNED

Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you

this day without a redeemer, and

may his name be renowned in Israel!

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Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there.

And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken,

came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down

here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took

ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.”

So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi,

who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling

the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.

4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the

presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the

elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But

if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no

one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And

he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you

buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire

Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to per-

petuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then

the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I

impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption

yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel con-

cerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a trans-

action, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the

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other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel.

8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for your-

self,” he drew off his sandal. 9 Then Boaz said to the

elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day

that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that be-

longed to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion

and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of

Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the

name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the

dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and

from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this

day.” 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the

elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the

woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and

Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you

act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethle-

hem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez,

whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring

that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he

went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she

bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed

be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a re-

deemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He

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shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your

old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who

is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her

lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the

neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been

born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the

father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered

Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Ammi-

nadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fa-

thered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered

Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

Life Is a Mountain Road

At one level, the message of the book of Ruth is that the

life of the godly is not a straight line to glory, but they

do get there. The life of the godly is not an Interstate

through Nebraska but a state road through the Blue

Ridge Mountains of Tennessee. There are rockslides and

precipices and dark mists and bears and slippery curves

and hairpin turns that make you go backward in order

to go forward. But all along this hazardous, twisted

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road that doesn’t let you see very far ahead, there are

frequent signs that say, “The best is yet to come.”

Taken as a whole, the story of Ruth is one of those

signs. It was written to give us encouragement and hope

that all the perplexing turns in our lives are going some-

where good. They do not lead off a cliff. In all the set-

backs of our lives as believers, God is plotting for our joy.

The Switchbacks on the Way Home

Taken in its parts, the book of Ruth is a series of set-

backs—what we call switchbacks on the mountain road.

You wonder how it will turn out. Will this strange road

really lead home?

In chapter 1, Naomi and her husband and two sons

were forced to leave their homeland in Judah on account

of famine. Then Naomi’s husband dies. Her sons marry

Moabite women, and for ten years the women prove to

be barren. Then her sons die, leaving two widows in the

house of Naomi. Even though Ruth cleaves to Naomi,

the chapter ends with Naomi’s bitter complaint: “I went

away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty . . . .

[T]he Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.”

In chapter 2, Naomi is filled with new hope because

Boaz appears on the scene as a possible husband for

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Ruth. But he doesn’t propose to Ruth. He doesn’t make

any moves. At least that’s the way it seems at first. So

the chapter closes brimming with excited hope, but also

with great suspense and uncertainty about how all this

might work out.

In chapter 3, Naomi and Ruth make a risky move

in the middle of the night. Ruth goes to Boaz on the

threshing floor and says in effect, “I want you to spread

your wings over me as my husband.” But right when

the tragedy of Ruth’s widowhood seems to be resolved

into a beautiful love story, a big mountain boulder rolls

out onto the state road of Ruth’s life. Another man, not

Boaz, has a prior claim to marry Ruth. The impeccably

honest Boaz will not proceed without giving this man his

lawful opportunity. So chapter 3 ends in the suspense of

another setback.

Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing

to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding

and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And

the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and

Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just

know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange

turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and

cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing

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the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and

for the glory of Jesus Christ.

The Threat of Ill-Timed Righteousness

After the midnight rendezvous in chapter 3, Boaz goes to

the city gate where the official business was done. The

nearer kinsman comes by, and Boaz lays the situation

before him. Naomi is giving up what little property she

has, and the duty of the nearer kinsman is to buy it so

that the inheritance stays in the family. To our dismay,

the kinsman says, “I will redeem it” (4:4).

We don’t want him to redeem it. We want Boaz to

redeem it. So again there seems to be a setback. And

the irony of this setback is that it is being caused by

righteousness. Boaz is doing the right thing. This other

fellow is doing the right thing. Sometimes the Blue

Ridge highway is all clogged up, not with boulders or

bears, but with good workmen doing only their duty.

Our frustrations are not only caused by sin but also by

(seemingly!) ill-timed righteousness.

Just when we are about to say, “Oh no! Stop the story!

Don’t let this other fellow take Ruth!” Boaz says to the

nearer kinsman, in my paraphrase of verse 5, “You know,

don’t you, that Naomi has a daughter-in-law. So when you

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play the part of the kinsman redeemer, you must also take

her as your wife and raise up offspring in the name of her

husband Mahlon.” Then, to our great relief, the kinsman

says he can’t do it (4:6). Perhaps he is married already.

Whatever the reason, we are cheering in the background

as Boaz gets through the bottleneck on the Blue Ridge

highway and highballs it to the wedding feast with the

beautiful young Ruth on his arm.

The Boulder of Barrenness

But there is another boulder in this happy road.

Ruth is barren. Or at least she seems to be. Back in

chapter 1, we were told that she had been married ten

years to Mahlon, and there were no children (1:4). So

even now the suspense is not over. But the cloud over

the head of Ruth and Boaz is big with mercy and breaks

with blessing on their heads.

The jubilant friends of Boaz and Ruth pray for the

newlyweds.

May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into

your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together

built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily

in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and

may your house be like the house of Perez, whom

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Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring

that the Lord will give you by this young woman.

(4:11–12)

They know that Rachel and Leah were alternately bar-

ren and fruitful and that it was God who opened and

shut their wombs. “[God] opened [Leah’s] womb, but

Rachel was barren” (Genesis 29:31). Then “Leah saw

that she had ceased bearing children” (Genesis 30:9).

“God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and

opened her womb” (Genesis 30:22). These friends also

knew that Rachel and Leah were the great matriarchs

of Israel. They and their handmaids had given birth to

the twelve patriarchs of Israel.

Therefore, the prayer that Ruth be like Rachel and

Leah was a plea not only that God would open Ruth’s

womb, but also that Ruth would take her place in the

great line of Israel leading to the Messiah. This was

the ultimate significance of their prayer that Boaz,

through his marriage to Ruth, would be “renowned in

Bethlehem.” That is in fact where the greatest of all

Ruth’s sons would be born. “So Boaz took Ruth, and

she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the

Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son” (Ruth

4:13).

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Closing the Circle for Naomi

But now there is a surprising shift in chapter 4. Notice

how the focus in verses 14–17 is not on Ruth at all, nor

on Boaz. The focus is on Naomi and the child. Why?

The story began with Naomi’s losses. It ends with

Naomi’s gain. It began with death and ends with birth.

A son is born. Whose son is it? Of course, we would say,

it is Ruth’s son—Ruth’s and Boaz’s. But that is not what

it says. It says, “A son has been born to Naomi” (4:17).

Not only to Ruth but also to Naomi!

Why does it say that? To make crystal-clear the com-

plete reversal of Naomi’s situation. She had said in Ruth

1:21, “I went away full, and the Lord has brought me

back empty.” But now she is full, and the Lord has given

her a son through Ruth. God was at work in the darkest

times to bring about this amazing turn of events. If we

would trust God implicitly, like Ruth, we would find that

all our complaints against God are unwarranted. Our

providences may be bitter, but God is at work for our

good—whether we can see it or not.

Is Glory Too Big a Word?

The book of Ruth was written to help us see the sign-

posts of grace in our lives—the ones that are visible.

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It also was written to help us trust God’s grace when

the clouds are so thick that we can’t see the road, let

alone the signs on the side. Again and again in this

book, God is at work in the setbacks of Naomi. When

she lost her husband and sons, God gave her Ruth.

When she could think of no kinsman to raise up off-

spring for the family, God gave her Boaz. When barren

Ruth married Boaz, God gave the child. The life of the

godly is not a straight line to glory, but God sees that

they get there.

Maybe you think the word glory is a little overdone.

After all it’s just a child—a grandmother holding a little

child after a long hard life of much heartache. But that

is not the end of the story. The scope of this story is much

greater than Naomi’s life—or our lives.

In 1912, John Henry Jowett, then pastor of the Fifth

Presbyterian Church in New York City, gave the Yale

Lectures on Preaching. A passage in one of his lectures

describes great preaching. It’s relevant here because it

gives us a vision of what the author of the book of Ruth

was doing when he ended his story. A great preacher,

Jowett says, is one who is able

to look at the horizon rather than at an enclosed field,

or a local landscape. He [has] a marvelous way of

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connecting every subject with eternity past and with

eternity to come. . . . It is as though you were looking

at a bit of carved wood in a Swiss village window,

and you lifted your eyes and saw the forest where the

wood was nourished, and, higher still, the everlasting

snows! Yes, that was Binney’s way, Dale’s way, the

way of Bushnell, and Newman, and Spurgeon—they

were always willing to stop at the village window,

but they always linked the streets with the heights,

and sent your souls a-roaming over the eternal hills

of God.1

If this story of Ruth just ended in a little Judean village

with an old grandmother hugging a new grandson, glory

would be too big a word. But the author doesn’t leave it

there. He lifts his eyes to the forests and to the mountain

snows of redemptive history.

Preparing the Lineage of the

Greatest King

In 4:17, we read very simply that this child named Obed

was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of

David. Suddenly we realize that all along something far

greater has been in the offing than we could imagine.

1John Henry Jowett, The Preacher: His Life and Work (New York: Harper, 1912), 95.

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God was not only plotting for the temporal blessing of a

few Jews in Bethlehem. He was preparing for the com-

ing of the greatest king that Israel would have, David.

And the name of David carries with it the hope of

the Messiah, the new age, peace, righteousness, freedom

from pain and crying and grief and guilt. This simple

little story opens out like a stream into an ocean of hope.

From David to Jesus

Jesus is the one who made this connection for us between

David and himself. He asked the Pharisees,

“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is

he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to

them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls

him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my

right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’?

If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And

no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that

day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

(Matthew 22:41–46)

The point of what Jesus said was that he himself is

the son of David and that he is far more than merely a

human son of David. David calls him Lord. So how is he

his son? Jesus wants us to see that already in the Old

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Testament (Psalm 110:1) we learn that the coming of

the Messiah, as the son of David, would be vastly more

than the Pharisees thought. He would be son of David

and Lord of David.

Who Is the Redeemer?

Did the writer of the book of Ruth see the greatness of

the future implied in the reference to David? It may be

that the writer saw even more. Listen to these amazing

words:

Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord,

who has not left you this day without a redeemer,

and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall

be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old

age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is

more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

(Ruth 4:14–15)

What is amazing here is that the “redeemer” is the baby.

At first, we might think that the word redeemer here

(4:14) would refer to Boaz (3:9, 12), since he is the one

who “redeemed” the property and the name of Naomi’s

husband. But that is not the natural way to understand

verses 14–15. The he at the beginning of verse 15 refers

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to the “redeemer” in verse 14, and it does not refer to

Boaz. “He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher

of your old age.” That is what the child will do, not Boaz.

Renowned and Redeeming through

Jesus Christ

So why is this child called a redeemer? At one level, he

simply redeems Naomi from hopelessness in her old

age. He refreshes her and gives life to her despairing

heart. But there is another level of meaning. This child

will be the grandfather of David (4:22) who receives the

promise that his offspring will rule over an eternal king-

dom (2 Samuel 7:13), and the name of this child will be

“renowned in Israel” (Ruth 4:14). These two (the renown

and the connection with David) are probably linked. The

renown of this child will not be mainly in himself; it will

come through his offspring, David—and through David’s

offspring, the Messiah.

That suggests that the child’s redeemer role also is

not simply in himself, but through his offspring. He will

redeem by bringing forth a redeemer. From our stand-

point with fuller biblical revelation, we can see this,

first, in the great deliverances of David and then, beyond

him, in the greatest redemption of all—the redemption

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through David’s son, Jesus Christ. “Christ redeemed us

from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”

(Galatians 3:13). “[He] gave himself for us to redeem

us from all lawlessness” (Titus 2:14). “Blessed be the

Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his

people” (Luke 1:68).

Looking to the Farthest Meaning

The story of Ruth, at one level, is about God’s sweet

and bitter providences. He governs the famine, and the

marriage of Naomi’s sons to foreign women, and the

death of her sons, and the faithfulness of Ruth, and the

availability and nobility of Boaz, and the birth of a child

to preserve the line of Elimelech. The story shows that

God is at work in the darkest of times for the good of

his people. The life of believers is not a straight path to

glory, but they do get there.

But at another level, the story is about something

much larger than one family and their sorrows and joys.

It is about God’s plan to glorify his grace in the Son of

David, the Messiah, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Ruth

and Naomi and Boaz are caught up in something of

eternal significance. Glory is not too big a word for the

destinies implicit in this story.

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Seeing Ourselves in Undeserving Ruth

The application of this glory to us may be felt most

personally when we focus on Ruth herself. How are

we included? All the calamities of this story seem to be

designed to get a Moabitess into the genealogy of Jesus.

Ruth is one of the four women mentioned in Matthew’s

genealogy (Matthew 1:5). God pursued her. He turned

the world upside down, you might say, to include Ruth

in the lineage of his Son.

Surely this is significant for us. Does it not mean

that God’s blessings are free and undeserved? Ruth was

an idolatrous Moabitess before God pursued her (1:15).

She did not merit this pursuit. It was free. That is the

way God pursues you and me. “You did not choose me,

but I chose you” (John 15:16).

Making Christ a Moabite

Not only that, but God moved the world in order to

include a foreigner in the lineage of the Messiah. Ruth

was not a Jew. Is not God showing us that his heart is for

the nations—all the nations? The glory of Christ is that

he comes from the nations and dies for the nations. His

blood was shed for the nations, and the nations’ blood

ran in his veins. The Jewish high priest prophesied

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better than he knew in John 11:51–52 “that Jesus would

die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also

to gather into one the children of God who are scattered

abroad.” “You were slain, and by your blood you ran-

somed people for God from every tribe and language and

people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

The redeeming work of Christ is free and unde-

served. It is intended for every ethnic group on the

planet. All ethnocentric and racist impulses are crucified

in Christ. That too is what the story of Ruth is about.

Planning Christ through Great Wickedness

There is one more implication of this story that I want to

draw out. It is not obvious until it is pointed out. Then

it is striking. The writer of this story aims to show that

God was at work in the time of the judges (1:1) to pre-

pare the way for David the king (4:22). The first and last

verses of the book make this plain.

But during the time of the judges, there were no

kings. In fact, during the time of the judges, it was sin

to demand a king. Nevertheless, near the end of this

period, the people asked for a king.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and

came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold,

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you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways.

Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the

nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they

said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed

to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the

voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they

have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from

being king over them.” (1 Samuel 8:4–7)

Asking for a king meant that they were rejecting God

as their king. This, Samuel says, was a great wicked-

ness: “Your wickedness is great, which you have done

in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king”

(1 Samuel 12:17).

Nevertheless, the book of Ruth is written with a clear

sense of joy that Ruth and Naomi and Boaz are the fore-

bears of the king of Israel. So in the same period when it

was a “great wickedness” to ask for a king, God was pre-

paring to give the people a king. We are meant to conclude

that, without approving of sin, God governs the sinful acts

of men for his own good and wise purposes. He was plan-

ning that Israel would have a king, though it was sin for

the people to demand one. In fact, it was precisely through

this sin that the kingly line was started, from which, in the

end, the King of kings would come.

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“We have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for

ourselves a king.” And Samuel said to the people,

“Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do

not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve

the Lord with all your heart. . . . For the Lord will

not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake.”

(1 Samuel 12:19–20, 22)

God had mercy on the people and made their sinful act

serve his eternal purposes—that there would be a kingly

line and that his Son would be the glorious climax of

that line.2

No Cross without Sovereignty over Sin

This amazing fact brings us to the cross of Christ in

more ways than one. We ask: Can it really be that

God governs the sinful acts of men to make them serve

his wise purposes without himself being a sinner?

Yes, he can. If he cannot, then there is no Christian

gospel. The gospel is the good news that Christ died

for our sins. “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the

gospel . . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with

the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised

2This is one of many instances in the Bible where God’s sovereignty over sin is

made to serve the glory of Christ. That is the main point of my book Spectacular Sins: And Their Global Purpose for the Glory of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008).

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on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures”

(1 Corinthians 15:1–4).

Notice the repeated phrase “in accordance with

the Scriptures.” That means that God planned it. God

planned that Christ would die. There would be no gospel

without the death of Christ. All the deeds that brought

him to the cross were planned. This is explicit in the

early church’s prayer of praise in Acts 4:27–28:

Truly in this city there were gathered together against

your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both

Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles

and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand

and your plan had predestined to take place.

This means that what Herod, Pilate, the soldiers, and

the mobs did to Jesus was planned by God. And all those

acts against Jesus were sin.

God does not sin. He is holy (Isaiah 6:3). He “is light,

and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). He is “the

Father of lights” from whom comes “every good gift and

every perfect gift” (James 1:17). But he clearly ordained

that the murder of his Son happen. In other words, when

we see God’s sovereignty at work in the book of Ruth

preparing the line of a king, even though asking for that

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king was sin, we are seeing the kind of divine work that

is necessary for the redemption of the world. There could

be no crucifixion if there were no crucifiers.

The Cross: God’s Loving Plan

Perhaps someone may think that this heady theol-

ogy about God’s ruling over sin without being sinful

himself is too high to be practically helpful. Joni

Eareckson Tada and her coauthor Steve Estes have

found it otherwise.

Joni has been almost completely paralyzed from the

neck down from a diving accident when she was seven-

teen years old. During a bleak period of doubt and anger,

a friend introduced her to Steve Estes. They began to

study the Bible together. “She came to the classically

Reformed belief that her injury was an expression of

God’s love. To put it simply, Scripture taught Tada that

her soul was infinitely more important than her body.”3

She explains,

I was heading down a path of self-destruction [be-

fore my accident]. . . . I was checking out a birth-

control clinic to get some pills, because I knew I’d be

sleeping with my boyfriend in college. Somewhere in

3Tim Stafford, “A Heaven-Made Activist,” Christianity Today, January 2004, 49.

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that mess of emotions and regrets and falterings and

failings, while making a sham of my Christian faith,

somewhere in that desperation I said, “God, rescue

me.” And he did. I believe my accident was a direct

answer.

Some people might want to say indirect, but I lean

toward the old adage that God draws straight lines

with crooked sticks.4

In other words, when God ordains something crooked,

he himself is not doing anything crooked. When told

that many people would say, “How dare you say God did

that?” she recalls that she had the same question for

Steve Estes. “How in the world can you say this accident

was God’s will?” Here’s where God’s sovereignty over the

cross of Christ becomes so relevant.

She recalls that Steve answered,

Let me answer that question by asking you a ques-

tion. Do you believe that when Jesus died on the

cross, that was God’s will? . . .

Well, think about it for a minute, because Jesus

was handed over for 30 pieces of silver, drunken sol-

diers pulled his beard out, then beat him mercilessly

in that back room. The mob screamed, “Crucify him.”

4Ibid.

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How can that be God’s will? Torture, injustice, mur-

der, treason. How could any of that be God’s will?5

Joni remembers, “He had me. Because I knew that God

the Father’s plan was for his Son to go to the cross.”6

These insights led Joni to the deep and unshakable

conviction that the pains of life are not exceptions to

God’s love for his children. They are expressions of his

love. “There are more important things than walking,”

she says.

Maybe death is supposed to be hard. Maybe it’s sup-

posed to be a taste of hell. . . . Oh, thank you, thank

you for this wheelchair! By tasting hell in this life,

I’ve been driven to think seriously about what faces

me in the next. This paralysis is my greatest mercy.7

A vision of God as absolutely supreme over all the evil of

the world—natural and moral—has set Joni Eareckson

Tada free to love others. Tim Stafford, who interviewed

Joni for an article in Christianity Today, said, “Heaven

has pulled her out of herself, and into the lives of other

sufferers. Heaven has made Tada an activist.”8 God’s

5Ibid., 50.

6Ibid.

7Ibid.

8Ibid.

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sovereignty over sin, even the world’s worst sin—mur-

dering the Son of God—was not too high to help Joni

Eareckson Tada. And it is not too high to help you.

Ruth against Rampant Trifling

The implications of the story of Ruth are breathtaking.

They are bigger than the world and bigger than our

minds. Like all Scripture, this story is inexhaustible. We

have perhaps scratched the surface.

One of the great diseases of our day is trifling. The

things with which most people spend most of their time

are trivial. And what makes this a disease is that we

were meant to live for magnificent causes. None of us

is really content with the trivial pursuits of the world.

Our souls will not be satisfied with trifles. Why is there

a whole section of the newspaper devoted to sports and

almost nothing devoted to the greatest story in the uni-

verse—the growth and spread of the church of Jesus

Christ? It is madness that insignificant games should

occupy such a central role in our culture compared to the

work of God in Christ.

It is one of many signs that we are enslaved to

trivialities. We live in the Swiss village but stare at the

wooden figurines in the window rather than lifting our

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eyes to the “everlasting snows.” We live in a perpetual

and hopeless struggle to satisfy our longings on trifles.

So our souls shrivel. Our lives become trivial. And our

capacity for magnificent causes and great worship dies.

Something Greater than Ourselves

The book of Ruth wants to teach us that God’s purpose

for his people is to connect us to something far greater

than ourselves. God wants us to know that when we fol-

low him, our lives always mean more than we think they

do. Naomi had no idea in the land of Moab that God was

making her the ancestor of the Messiah. For the Christian

there is always a connection between the ordinary events

of life and the stupendous work of God in history.

Everything we do in obedience to God, no matter how

small, is significant. It is part of a cosmic mosaic that

God is painting to display the greatness of his power and

wisdom to the world and to the principalities and powers

in the heavenly places (Ephesians 3:10). A deep satisfac-

tion of the Christian life is that we are not given over to

trifles. Serving a widowed mother-in-law, gleaning in a

field, falling in love, having a baby—for the Christian

these things are all connected to eternity. They are part

of something so much bigger than they seem.

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The Best Is Yet to Come—Glory

So the word glory is not too strong for where this book

leads us. The life of the godly is not a straight line to

glory, but they do get there—God sees to it. There is a

hope for us beyond the cute baby and the happy grand-

mother. The story points forward to David. David points

forward to Jesus. And Jesus points forward to the resur-

rection of our mortal bodies (Romans 8:23) when “death

shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor

crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have

passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

The best is yet to come. That is the unshakable

truth about the life of the woman and the man who fol-

low Christ in the obedience that flows from faith. I say

it to the young who are strong and hopeful, and I say it

to the old, for whom the outer nature is quickly wasting

away. The best is yet to come. And God is at work in the

darkest of your times to get you there.

“Sweetie-Pie”

This pledge God has made to his people is unbreak-

able. No famine or death can break it. I saw it in a

parable. I was visiting some of our elderly people in a

nursing home. I got on the elevator with a woman in a

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wheelchair who was old, misshapen, and confused. Her

head wobbled meaninglessly and she uttered senseless

sounds. Her mouth hung open. Then I noticed that a

well-dressed man, perhaps in his mid-sixties, was push-

ing her chair. I wondered who he was. Then as we all

got off the elevator, I heard him say, “Watch your feet,

Sweetie-pie.”

Sweetie-pie. As I walked to the car, I thought . . .

if a marriage covenant between a man and a woman

produces that kind of fidelity and commitment and

affection under those circumstances, then surely under

the great and merciful terms of the New Covenant,

sealed with the blood of his Son (Luke 22:20), God has

no difficulty calling you and me (sinful and sick as we

are) sweet names. And if he does, there is no truth more

unshakable in all the world than this: For them and for

us, the best is yet to come. God is at work in the darkest

times—for our good and Christ’s glory. He will see to it

that the glory of his Son fills the earth and that in him

we find everlasting joy.

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FINAL APPEALS

WE END WHERE WE BEGAN. In the Introduction, I

mentioned seven reasons why I thought you might want

to read this book. In closing, I will take those seven rea-

sons and turn them into seven appeals. If I have under-

stood the story of Ruth correctly, these are not merely

my appeals, but also God’s. I give them in the spirit of

Romans 12:1—because God has been merciful to us. “I

appeal to you . . . by the mercies of God” (Romans 12:1).

Yes, by his mercies and for his glory.

1. Study the Scriptures

In September 1966, I was lying sick with mononucleosis

in the health center at Wheaton College. Harold John

Ockenga was preaching in chapel across the street. I

listened on WETN radio. I was a junior in premed, but

that preaching changed everything.

Inside of me there awakened a desire that has never

died—a desire to know and study the Bible. Before I left

the health center, I had resolved to attend seminary. I

didn’t know my calling then. All I knew was that there

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was in me a passion to understand Scripture—and to

help others love it and live it.

That was forty-four years ago. My hunger has never

changed. I am writing this simply to encourage you to

do the same. Not that everyone should go to seminary

or become a full-time student of the Bible. But everyone

should make a lifelong habit of growing in the knowl-

edge and love of God’s Word.

The Scriptures are “true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much

fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings

of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your ser-

vant warned; in keeping them there is great reward”

(Psalm 19:9–11).

Compared to whatever else you might read—and

we must read other things—only the Scriptures give

life. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of

eternal life” (John 6:68). Only the Scriptures can defeat

the supernatural power of evil. “The word of God abides

in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1 John

2:14). Only the Scriptures are infallible and lead you

unfailingly in the truth. “Scripture cannot be broken”

(John 10:35). Only the Word of God can cause new birth.

“You have been born again . . . through the living and

abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23–25). Only the Word of

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God can make us holy. “Sanctify them in the truth; your

word is truth” (John 17:17). Only the Scriptures awaken

lasting spiritual joy. “These things I have spoken to you,

that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full”

(John 15:11).

I owe my life to the Word of God. I owe my faith and

hope and preaching and counseling and writing and

marriage and friendships and perseverance to the Word

of God. I shudder at the thought of life without the Bible.

Here is where I meet Jesus. Here is where I fellowship

with him and consult with him and learn from him and

get corrected by him and comforted by him. Joyful fel-

lowship with Jesus is inconceivable apart from his living

Word and presence through the Bible.

I want everyone to know and trust and love and

follow Jesus Christ. This is possible only through the

biblical Word. So I pray that our trek together through

the story of Ruth will stir you up to go on. There are dis-

coveries waiting for you that will change your life. There

is more of God to be known and more of Christ to be seen

than you ever thought possible. There is a strength of

soul, and a clarity of faith, and a firmness of hope, and

a height of joy, and a depth of wisdom, and a genuine-

ness of love, and a quiet peace, and a humble boldness

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that only comes from rich seasons of meditation on the

Word of God.

May the Lord awaken in you an insatiable hunger for

his Word. “ ‘Feed your belly with this scroll that I give you

and fill your stomach with it.’ Then I ate it, and it was in

my mouth as sweet as honey” (Ezekiel 3:3).

2. Pursue Sexual Purity

One of the things Scripture does is entice us to a deeper,

stronger, more beautiful view of human sexuality. To be

sure, what the world offers is “powerful,” but only in the

visceral way. It’s powerful the way appetite is powerful.

But humans are created in God’s image. We are more

than a collection of appetites.

Ruth is a story of another kind of sexual power—like

a river running deep between the high banks of righ-

teousness. Without banks, a river overflows everywhere

and creates havoc. It also gets muddy and shallow.

That’s what happens to sex without the restraints of

God.

But when this river runs between the banks of bib-

lical truth, it runs deep, and it runs pure. Those who

give themselves away outside marriage forfeit a depth

of pleasure that only those know who wait for the Lord.

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Experiencing sexual purity by the power of God’s Spirit

and the truth of God’s word carries a reward that those

outside cannot feel.

It has to do with seeing God. “Blessed are the pure

in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). George

Whitefield said, “He who is most pure in heart, shall

hereafter enjoy the clearest vision of God.”1 Yes. But not

just in the hereafter. Our sight of God in the present is

clouded by all impurity.

This is the greatest argument for a life free from

fornication and adultery and pornography and lustful

imaginations. It lets you see more of God. This is what

we were made for. Moses cried, “Show me your glory”

(Exodus 33:18). Jesus prayed for us, “Father, I desire

that they also, whom you have given me, may be with

me where I am, to see my glory” (John 17:24).

It is a great tragedy—a great loss—when a person

chooses sexual license over seeing God. It is like Einstein

choosing to be a janitor, or Billy Graham choosing to be a

newscaster, or Michael Jordan choosing to play baseball.

It’s not what we are made for. We were made to see God,

know God, admire God, enjoy God. Stay sexually pure,

and pursue the pleasures that never fail.

1George Whitefield, “Christ, the Believer’s Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctifica-

tion and Redemption,” in Select Sermons of George Whitefield (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1985), 114.

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3. Pursue Mature Manhood and Womanhood

The egalitarian impulses of the last thirty years have

not made us better men and women. In fact, they have

confused millions. What average man or woman today

could answer a little boy’s question, Daddy, what does it

mean to grow up and be a man and not a woman? Or a

little girl’s question, Mommy, what does it mean to grow

up and be a woman and not a man?

Who could answer these questions without dimin-

ishing manhood and womanhood into mere biological

mechanisms? Who could articulate the profound mean-

ings of manhood and womanhood woven differently into

a common personhood created differently and equally

in the image of God? James Dobson puts it like this: “At

the heart . . . is the issue of what is a man? If you try to

reduce that issue to just: what is a caring person, you

make a good point but miss a crucial created element

called manhood that is relevant.”2 Not asking the ques-

tion about the essence of male and female personhood

confuses everyone, especially the children.

And this confusion hurts people. It is not a small

thing. Its effects are vast. I agree with Dobson when

he says, “Feminist resistance to making manhood and

2 Focus on the Family, May 1993, Vol. 17, No. 5, 7. Final italics original.

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womanhood significant in behavior and role determina-

tion is partner to some of the most painful social and

spiritual issues of our day.”3

When manhood and womanhood are confused at

home, the consequences are deeper than may show up

in a generation. There are dynamics in the home that

direct the sexual preferences of the children and shape

their concept of manhood and womanhood. Especially

crucial in the matter of sexual preference is a father’s

firm and loving affirmation of a son’s masculinity and

a daughter’s femininity.4 The father must be a man.

But how can this kind of manly affirmation be culti-

vated in an atmosphere where role differences between

masculinity and femininity are constantly denied or

diminished for the sake of gender-leveling and sex-

blindness?

What we all need is solid teaching from the Bible

about the differences God intends between men and

women.5 But we also need stories. Great stories. We need

to see manhood and womanhood in action—in real life

3Ibid .

4Gerald P. Regier, “The Not-So-Disposable Family,” Pastoral Renewal, Vol. 13, No. 1, July-August 1988, 20.

5I have tried to think this through in a small way in What’s the Difference?

Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the Bible (Wheaton,

IL: Crossway Books, 2009). See also John Piper and Wayne Grudem, eds.,

Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books,

2006), and Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth (Sisters,

OR: Multnomah Press, 2004). See also www.cbmw.org.

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and fiction and history. The story of Ruth and Boaz is the

kind of story that can awaken and feed the masculine and

feminine soul in ways that we cannot articulate.

I encourage you to be like a dolphin in the sea of

our egalitarian, gender-leveling culture. Don’t be like

a jellyfish. The ocean of secularism that we swim in

(including much of the church) drifts toward minimiz-

ing serious differences between manhood and woman-

hood. The culture swings back and forth as to whether

women are mainly sex objects or senior vice presidents.

But rarely does it ponder the biblical vision that men

are called to humbly lead and protect and provide,

and women are called to come in alongside with their

unique gifts and strengths and help the men carry

through the vision.

I pray that you will be stirred up by Ruth and Boaz

to pursue mature manhood and womanhood. More is

at stake than we know. God has made marriage the

showcase of his covenant love where the husband mod-

els Christ, and the wife models the church (Ephesians

5:21–33). And God calls single people to bless this vision

and to cultivate an expression of leadership and support

appropriate to their different relationships.6

6For more on this vision of marriage, see John Piper, This Momentary Marriage:

A Parable of Permanence (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009).

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4. Embrace Ethnic Diversity

If you read the book of Ruth backward—knowing the

resolution before you know how we get there—it is

astonishing that the story is built precisely to include a

Moabite woman in the lineage of David and the Messiah.

This intentionality is underlined in Matthew 1:5 where

Ruth is one of the four women mentioned in the geneal-

ogy of Jesus.

In fact, it seems that Matthew was going out of his

way to include unlikely women in his genealogy: Tamar

who bore Perez through adultery with her father-in-

law (Matthew 1:3), Rahab the Canaanite prostitute

(Matthew 1:5), and Bathsheba, the wife of a Hittite who

committed adultery with King David and bore Solomon

(Matthew 1:6). I say unlikely both because of ethnic and

moral reasons.

Ruth was not an Israelite. This meant she was

ethnically an outsider to the covenant and to the cus-

toms and laws of Israel. Israelites were not supposed

to marry women of other nations (Ezra 10:11). During

the same period of the judges when the story of Ruth

took place (Ruth 1:1), Samson’s parents said to him,

“Is there not a woman among the daughters of your

relatives, or among all our people, that you must go

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to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”

(Judges 14:3).

What God was doing in his far-seeing providence

was planting the dynamite that would explode the

fortresses of ethnocentrism and racism. As the history

of his people progressed, God would make it clearer

and clearer that the real issue in intermarriage was

not race but faith. Paul would eventually say that

a follower of Christ should marry “only in the Lord”

(1 Corinthians 7:39).

I have spelled out a biblical position on interracial

marriage in a sermon titled “Racial Harmony and

Interracial Marriage.”7 Here I simply want to celebrate

God’s aim to call a people from all the ethnic groups

of the world. The story of Ruth tells us that Moabite

blood flowed in the veins of the Son of God. This blood

was then shed for the salvation of Moabites—and every

other people group. “You were slain, and by your blood

you ransomed people for God from every tribe and lan-

guage and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

The global ground where we stand is shifting under

our feet. Peoples are moving as never before. For exam-

ple, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul where I

7Available online at http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/

ByDate/2005/198_Racial_Harmony_and_Interracial_Marriage/.

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live is presently home to the largest Somali and Hmong

populations in the United States, as well as the largest

Chinese student population. Phillips Neighborhood,

where our house is located, is one of the most diverse

neighborhoods in the country, with more than a hun-

dred different languages. Nearby Nicollet Avenue’s “Eat

Street” has seventy-five ethnic restaurants in a six-

block area. One of our suburbs, Maple Grove, is home to

the largest Hindu temple in North America. The same

kinds of shifting are happening all over the world.

None of this is any more accidental than Naomi’s

stay in Moab. God was drawing Ruth to himself, and

today he is drawing thousands of ethnic peoples to him-

self. God loves to magnify the power of his Son to call

people from every group. And he loves to magnify the

beauty of his Son to hold the allegiance of hearts in every

kind of culture.

Don’t let the shifting of peoples and cultures that

you see threaten your faith. Don’t cleave to the way

things are as if your citizenship is merely on earth. “Our

citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior,

the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Whatever

country we live in, we are “sojourners and exiles”

(1 Peter 2:11). A follower of Christ in any ethnic group

is a closer relative to us than any blood relative who

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rejects our Savior. “Whoever does the will of God, he is

my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35).

5. Trust the Sovereignty of God

I think God has revealed his sovereignty to us so that we

will feel a suitable reverence at his power and a strong

confidence that we are loved. It is fitting that we tremble

at the majesty of God’s power. “This is the one to whom

I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and

trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:2). “When I saw him, I

fell at his feet as though dead” (Revelation 1:17).

It is also fitting that those who are in Christ never

fear any condemnation (Romans 8:1), nor ever dream

that God has turned against them. “If God is for us, who

can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son

but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him

graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:31–32). When

Christ absorbs the wrath of God that we deserved, God

never aims at our destruction but only at our holy, eter-

nal happiness.

The painful things that come into our lives are not

described by God as accidental or as out of his control.

This would be no comfort. That God cannot stop a germ

or a car or a bullet or a demon is not good news; it is not

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the news of the Bible. God can. And ten thousand times

he does. But when he doesn’t, he has his reasons. And

in Christ Jesus they are all loving. We are taught this

sovereignty so that we will drink it in till it saturates

our bones. He is getting us ready to suffer without feel-

ing unloved.

So when suffering comes, God’s children are meant

to experience it as God’s fatherly discipline. It does

not speak well of our faith if we doubt his love or if

we become angry at God when he ordains pain in our

lives. The story of Ruth (along with Joseph and Job and

Esther and others) is in the Bible to prepare us for bitter

providences by showing us again and again that God is

doing a thousand things that we do not know. And they

are meant for our good.

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the

Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the

Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every

son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you

have to endure. God is treating you as sons. . . . For

the moment all discipline seems painful rather than

pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of

righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

(Hebrews 12:5–8, 11)

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This is how the children of God should experience the

providence of God. We have often used the word provi-

dence in this book. Here is a beautiful description of it

from the 400-year-old Heidelberg Catechism:

Question 27: What do you mean by the providence

of God?

Answer: The almighty and everywhere present

power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he

upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all crea-

tures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought,

fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health

and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things

come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.

What I have tried to do in this book is draw out the

personal and precious fact that this truth is comforting.

Yes, it is painful. To know that our Father in heaven

has ordained our pain is not a comfortable truth, but it

is comforting. That our pain has a loving and wise and

all-powerful purpose behind it is better than any other

view—weak God, cruel God, bumbling God, no God. To

know that in his hands “this light momentary affliction

is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond

all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17) is profoundly reas-

suring. And yes, “light” and “momentary” meant, in

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Paul’s case, a lifetime of suffering. The excruciating8

“lightness” of his suffering was light compared to the

weight of glory. And the interminable “momentariness”

of his suffering was momentary compared to the eter-

nality of the glory.

My point is that there is a great advantage in know-

ing that God is sovereign over the pain and pleasure of

our lives. The Heidelberg Catechism asks what this is

and gives the answer:

Question 28: What advantage is it to us to know that

God has created, and by his providence does still up-

hold all things?

Answer: That we may be patient in adversity;

thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which

may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust

in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall

separate us from his love; since all creatures are

so in his hand, that without his will they cannot so

much as move.

8Paul lists some of his pains at the end of 2 Corinthians: “. . . far more imprison-ments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at

the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with

rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was

adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers,

danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in

the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship,

through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold

and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of

my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made

to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2 Corinthians 11:23–29).

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If we can keep our eyes on the cross of Christ, where God

infallibly certified his love for us with no change possible

(Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:16), then the pain he ordains for us

will not undermine our sense of being loved. Instead, we

will put our hands on our mouths and bow before his all-

loving, all-ruling providence. We will trust him to only do us

good—whether it feels good or not at the moment. And we

will wait for the day when all will be repaid and made plain.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,

I cannot close my heart to thee;

I trace the rainbow through the rain,

And feel the promise is not vain,

That morn shall tearless be. 9

Even on this side of the tearless morning, there are often

revelations of the glory of Christ in suffering that out-

strip any visions that come on bright days. O how many

suffering saints have found this to be so:

I learned He never gives a thorn without this

added grace,

He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil which hides

His face. 10

9George Matheson, “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go,” 1882.

10Martha Snell Nicholson, “The Thorn,” in The Glory Forever (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1949), 17.

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6. Take the Risks of Love

Ruth took the risks of love—leaving her homeland, promis-

ing never to return, working faithfully for her mother-in-

law through the heat of the day, going to Boaz in the middle

of the night—because she lived under the “wings [of God]”

(Ruth 2:12). The sovereign goodness of God is revealed to

us not only for our comfort, but also to free us from the fear

and selfishness that quashes the radical risks of love.

Love is what faith looks like when we trust the sov-

ereign promises of God secured by the blood of Christ.

“In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumci-

sion counts for anything, but only faith working through

love” (Galatians 5:6). Faith in God’s sovereign love for

us empowers works of love. Love displays the reality of

faith in God’s promises.

Therefore, Paul says that “the aim of our charge

is love” (1 Timothy 1:5). That’s what the author of the

book of Ruth would have said too. The aim is not just to

entertain us with an interesting story, not just to clarify

our theology. The aim is that these clarified convictions

and this inspiring story would empower us for radical,

risk-taking works of love. These are the lights of the

world that cause people to glorify God (Matthew 5:16).

Just before Jesus performed the greatest work of

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love that ever was, he strengthened his heart with

the joy that was set before him. This joy was secured

by the sovereignty shared by his Father and himself.

“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own

accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have

authority to take it up again. This charge I have

received from my Father” (John 10:18). He was upheld

with the hope of absolutely certain future joy: “For the

joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross”

(Hebrews 12:2).

There is no safer place in all the universe than

under the wings of the sovereign, all-wise, all-loving

God. But the shadow of these wings may take us to

dangerous places in the cause of love. You may be mar-

tyred in the shadow of the Almighty. But you will not

have wasted your life when you die in the cause of love.

As the martyr Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool

who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he

cannot lose.”11

7. Live and Sing to the Glory of Christ

What is implied at the end of Ruth—which looks for-

ward to David and the messianic line of David—and

11Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), 19.

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what is clear from the eternal perspective of Scripture

is that all of human history is for the glory of Jesus

Christ. “All things were created through him and for

him” (Colossians 1:16).

From eternity to eternity, Christ is in view as the

focus of all worship and allegiance. Before creation,

God planned our redemption. And the focus of it from

eternity past was Christ: “He chose us in him before the

foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). Before creation

God planned the death of his Son. He prepared a book of

the redeemed “before the foundation of the world” and

gave the book a name: “the book of life of the Lamb who

was slain” (Revelation 13:8).

And at the other end of eternity, we will sing to the

Lamb at the center of all our worship. There will be no

competition between God the Father and God the Son

for our worship, because the Lamb is “in the midst”

of the throne of God (Revelation 7:17). The throne of

the universe is “the throne of God and of the Lamb”

(Revelation 22:1, 3). And there is no hesitation to say,

“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10). Every creature

will cry, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and

ever!” (Revelation 5:13).

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When the Father becomes “all in all” (1 Corinthians

15:28), the Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain,

will not be less than supremely worshiped with the

Father. He will have his praise for his unique work.

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne

and the living creatures and the elders the voice

of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads

and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud

voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom

and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth

and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in

them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might

forever and ever!”

And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and

the elders fell down and worshiped. (Revelation

5:11–14)

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Ruth and Boaz and Naomi are there glorifying Christ.

They know now how the story ends. And so do we—

even before we get there. Therefore, make a good

beginning in this world: Live and sing to the glory of

Christ.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

BETHLEHEM BAPTIST CHURCH remains the fertile

seedbed where most of what I write grows. The people

are gracious and hungry listeners who draw the best out

of me—such as it is. The series of messages on Ruth was

no exception. Thank you, Bethlehem, for hungering for

the word of God through this imperfect servant.

The elders gave me days away over and above my

usual writing leave to put the final form of this book

together. Brothers, working with you in the leadership of

Bethlehem has been for decades a source of relentless joy.

David Mathis, Executive Pastoral Assistant, has

become increasingly a source of strength and practical

motivation and help not to waste my life—not a day.

He keeps my life in order and moves me with great

grace from one thing to the other. Without him I would

scarcely know what to do next. Thank you, David (and

Megan!), for your excellence and friendship.

Noël and Talitha, you are the Ruths in my life. I

admire you both, and I love you. Thank you for helping

me do what I do.

147

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Acknowledgments

The son of Ruth, son of David, Son of God is under

and over everything. There is no life-giving breath, no

final bliss, and no finished book without him. Thank

you, Lord Jesus, for shedding your blood so that this

sinner can be so blessed.

John Piper

Minneapolis, Minnesota

July 1, 2009

148

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SCRIPTURE INDEX

Genesis

Ruth

29:31

104

Book of

11, 12, 13, 15, 16,

30:9

104

21, 24, 25, 27, 50,

30:22

104

99, 100, 101, 105,

37:28

29

106, 109, 114, 116,

38:15

43

121, 128, 133, 141,

50:20

38

142, 147

Chap. 1

19–21, 25, 80, 100

Exodus

1:1

25, 113, 133

33:18

129

1:1–5

25

1:3

31

Leviticus

1:4

31, 103

19:29

85

1:5

31

26:3–4

26

1:6

31, 33, 39

1:8–13

32, 33

Deuteronomy

1:11

32, 33

1:11–13

60

22:13–21

85

1:13

31, 32, 35, 58

25:5–10

33

1:14

33

32:11

85

1:15

31, 33–34, 112

Joshua

1:16

35

1:16–17

17, 34

2:1

22, 43

1:17

35

2:3

22

1:19

37

6:17

22

1:20

38, 58, 79, 80, 82,

6:23

22

100

1:20–21

15

Judges

1:21

30, 39, 59, 105

Book of

21

1:22

39

2:16–19

22

Chap. 2

55–58, 59, 79, 100

10:6

31

2:1

60

14:3

133–34

2:1–7

59, 61, 62

21:25

22

2:2

61

149

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Scripture Index

2:3

62–63

4:21–22

23, 50, 92

2:4

60, 79, 93

4:22

23, 110, 113

2:5

34

2:7

61, 62

1 Samuel

2:8

63, 88

8:4–7

113–14

2:9

63

9:1

60

2:10

64, 65, 71

12:17

114

2:10–13

64, 79

12:19–20

115

2:11–12

65

12:22

115

2:12

53, 66, 67, 68–69,

16:18

60

85, 86, 87, 141

2:14

72

2 Samuel

2:17

62

7:13

110

2:17–19

73

2:20

33, 63, 73, 79, 80,

1 Kings

82

11:28

60

Chap. 3

77–78, 80, 87, 101,

102

1 Chronicles

3:1–5

81

28:1

60

3:2

82

3:4

83, 84

Ezra

3:5

84

3:6–9

81, 84

10:11

133

3:9

85, 109

3:10

88

Esther

3:10–11

88, 89

Book of

101

3:10–15

81, 89

3:11

75

Job

3:12

109

Book of

101

3:12–13

90

1:21

44

Chap. 4

97–99

38:26

44

4:4

102

39:26

85

4:5

102

4:6

103

Psalms

4:11

93

19:9–11

126

4:11–12

103–4

25:11

68

4:12

34

34:19

45

4:13

104

42:5

82

4:14

95, 109, 110

57:1

67

4:14–15

109

105:16–17

30

4:14–17

105

110:1

109

4:15

109

143:11

68

4:17

105, 107

147:8

44

4:18–22

22

147:10–11

68

150

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Scripture Index

Proverbs

13:34–35

71

16:33

44

16:15

72

20:24

63

18:9

72

31:25

36

22:20

123

Isaiah

John

6:3

116

5:39

12

9:7

24

6:68

126

66:2

136

8:36

42

10:18

142

Jeremiah

10:35

11, 126

11:51–52

113

48:40

85

15:16

112

49:22

85

17:17

127

Ezekiel

17:24

129

3:3

128

Acts

16:8

86

4:27–28

116

Daniel

14:22

45

2:21

44

Romans

4:35

44

3:25

51

Micah

5:8

140

8:1

136

6:8

16

8:23

122

8:31–32

136

Matthew

12:1

125

1:3

43, 133

15:4

12, 50

1:5

22, 43, 112, 133

15:13

50

1:6

133

5:8

129

1 Corinthians

5:16

141

6:9–11

91

5:18

11–12

7:39

134

10:29

44

15:1–4

115–16

15:19

85

15:10

70

15:27

62

15:28

144

22:41–46

24, 92, 108

2 Corinthians

Mark

4:17

138

3:35

136

11:23–29

139

Luke

Galatians

1:68

111

3:13

111

10:29

72

5:6

69, 141

151

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Scripture Index

Ephesians

1 Peter

1:4

143

1:23–25

126

1:11

44

2:11

135

3:10

121

3:5–6

36

5:21–33

132

4:11

69

4:19

45

Philippians

3:20

135

2 Peter

1:21

12

Colossians

1:16

143

1 John

1:5

116

1 Timothy

2:14

126

1:5

141

3:16

140

2 Timothy

Revelation

3:16

12

1:17

136

5:9

113, 134

Titus

5:11–14

144

2:14

111

5:13

143

7:10

143

Hebrews

7:17

143

12:2

142

13:8

143

12:5–8

137

21:4

122

12:11

137

22:1

143

22:3

143

James

1:17

116

152

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PERSON INDEX

Bathsheba, 133

Jacob, 29

Binney, Thomas, 106–7

Jesse, 23, 24, 50, 93

Bowers, Charity, 27, 28

Jesus, 25, 46, 93, 116, 122

Bowers, Cory, 27, 28

Job, 101, 137

Bowers, Jim, 27, 28, 29

Jordan, Michael, 129

Bowers, Veronica, 27, 28

Joseph, 29–30, 38, 101, 137

Bushnell, Horace, 106–7

Joshua, 22

Jowett, John Henry, 106, 107

Cowper, William, 25, 43, 80

Knight, John, 39–42

Dale, Robert William, 106–7

Knight, Paul, 40, 42

David, 23, 24, 46, 50, 93,

107–11, 113, 122, 133, 148

Leah, 104

Dobson, James, 130–31

Livingstone, W.P., 47, 49

Donaldson, Kevin, 27, 28

Matheson, George, 140

Einstein, Albert, 129

Mathis, David, 147

Elliot, Elisabeth, 142

Mathis, Megan, 147

Elliot, Jim, 142

Michael, David, 40

Estes, Steve, 117–19

Esther, 101, 137

Newman, John Henry, 106–7

Nicholson, Martha Snell, 140

Gaebelein, Frank E., 12

Graham, Billy, 129

Obed, 23, 24, 50, 83, 107

Grudem, Wayne, 131

Ockenga, Harold John, 125

Hart, David, 26

Paul, 70

Herod, 116

Perez, 133

Huey, F. B., 12

Pilate, 116

153

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Person Index

Piper, John, 23, 40, 41, 115,

Spurgeon, Charles H., 106–7

131, 132, 148, 153

Stafford, Tim, 117–19

Piper, Noel, 7, 36, 147

Steller, Tom, 40

Piper, Talitha, 7, 36, 37, 147

Tada, Joni Eareckson, 117–20

Rachel, 104

Tamar, 43, 133

Rahab, 22, 43, 133

Regier, Gerald P., 131

Whitefield, George, 129

Sandell-Berg, Karolina W., 38

Slessor, Mary, 47–50

Solomon, 133

154

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SUBJECT INDEX

7 appeals, 125–45

Eat Street, 135

7 reasons to read this book,

Embittered eyes become blind,

11–16

39–44

Embrace ethnic diversity,

All things serve God’s good

133–36

ends, 27

Entitlement, 64

Awakening to the kindness of

Ethnocentrism, 13–15, 113

God, 72–73

diversity is a given in this

world, 14

Barrenness, see Childlessness

Everything a means to glorify-

Bethlehem Baptist Church,

ing Jesus, 24

41, 147

Bible, see Scripture

Femininity, see Manhood and

Blue Ridge Mountains, 99,

Womanhood

102, 103

Forgiveness in Jesus for

sexual failure, 91

Cedar Ave, 72

Fornication, 85, 129

Childlessness, 31, 34, 58, 100,

Franklin Ave., 72

103, 104

From David to Jesus, 108–9

Christ, see Jesus

Closing the circle for Naomi,

“God Moves in a Mysterious

105

Way,” 24–25, 43, 80

Creativity in the cause of

Glory of Christ, 16, 50–51

purity, 92

all history serves to mag-

nify, 16

Depression, 82

God-saturated man, 59–61

Despondency, 79

God,

Diversity, racial and ethnic,

all things serve his good

see Ethnocentrism

ends, 27

Dolphin, 132

at work in the worst of

Don’t be like the Pharisees, 72

times, 22–23

155

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Subject Index

does not sin, 116

How the Christian life works,

for us in life’s strange

69–70

turns, 101

gracious even when silent,

Ideal woman, 35–37

63

Internet, 13, 14

great winged Eagle, 67, 69,

Interracial marriage, 15, 134

72, 80

Is glory too big a word? 105–7

mysterious providence of,

45–46

Jesus, 11, 12, 14, 16, 22, 24,

plots for glory even in the

25, 40, 42, 43, 45, 46, 50,

sins of his people, 23

51, 61, 62, 69, 71, 72, 91,

plotting for joy in our set-

92, 93, 102, 108, 110, 111,

backs, 100

112, 113, 116, 118, 120, 122,

sovereignty of, 11, 13, 15,

127, 129, 133, 135, 137,

27, 28, 37, 38, 41,42,

141, 143, 144, 148

44, 49, 58, 63, 73, 80,

everything a means to

glorifying, 24

81, 115–17, 118, 120,

never had sex, 93–94

136–42

Jewishness, 43

cherish in suffering, 27

John Knight’s story, 39–42

unwavering commitment to

Judges, period of, 21, 46, 113,

his own glory, 67

133

who causes famines, 25–26,

30

Let the morning dawn on your

God’s ideal woman, 35–37

purity, 90–91

Gospel, 11, 71, 72, 115

Life as a mountain road,

never changes, 11

99–100

not an employment ad, 72

Live and sing to the glory of

Christ, 142–45

Heidelberg Catechism, 138–39

Love story, 12–13

Hope, 12

Love that is risk-taking, 15–16

birthplace of dreams, 80–81

Lust, 129

book of Ruth filled with, 12

helps us dream, 81

Maintenance mentality, 82

How God upholds the worth of

Making Christ a Moabite,

his name, 67–68

112–13

156

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Subject Index

Man, sexual nature of, 11

Preparing the lineage of the

Manhood and womanhood, 13,

greatest king, 107–8

93, 130–32

Putting in place the ancestry

more than sex, 13

of Jesus, 23–24

Mara, 37

Mary Slessor’s story, 47–50

Racial and ethnic diversity,

Masculinity, see Manhood and

see Ethnocentrism

Womanhood

Radical love, 47

More than pious platitudes, 61

Reformed, 117

Renowned and redeeming

Naomi,

through Jesus, 110–11

focus of the first chapter, 25

Risk-taking love, 15–16

knew that famines are

Ruth against rampant trifling,

from God, 30

120–21

miseries of, 25–26

Ruth’s righteous risk, 84–85

story begins and ends with,

Ruths in my life, 147

105

New covenant, 123

Satan, 27

No “Help Wanted,” 71–72

Scriptures, 11, 12, 26, 29, 50,

No cross without sovereignty

115, 116, 117, 120, 125,

over sin, 115–17

126, 127, 128, 143, 149

point to Jesus, 12

O Love That Will Not Let Me

Seeing ourselves in undeserv-

Go, 140

ing Ruth, 112

One who suffered most de-

Sex, 83, 84, 85, 86, 89, 90, 91,

served it least, 45

93

manhood and womanhood

Pain, see Suffering

more than, 12

Parallels with Joseph and

Sexual purity, 128–30

Egypt, 29–30

She laughs at the time to

Pharisees, 71–72, 108–9

come, 35–37

Phillips Neighborhood, 36, 135

Signposts of grace, 105

Planning Christ through great

Single people, 132

wickedness, 113–15

Source of risk-taking love,

Playing with fire, 31

70–71

Pornography, 129

Sovereign bullet, 27–29

157

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Subject Index

Sovereignty of God, 11, 13,

Tsunami, 26

15, 27, 28, 37, 38, 41, 42,

Twin Cities, 134–35

44, 49, 58, 63, 73, 80, 81,

115–17, 118, 120, 136–42

U. S. Census Bureau, 14

Strange custom of marrying

kinsmen, 32–33

Wall Street Journal, 26

Strategic righteousness, 75–94

Who is the redeemer?, 109–10

Subtle way of saying yes,

Why read this book—7 rea-

88–89

sons, 11–16

Suffering, 26, 27, 45, 137, 139,

Woman of initiative, lowliness,

140, 152

and industry, 61–62

no sure connection with our Women of worth, 7

behavior, 45

Word of God, see Scriptures

supremely the glory of

Worthy man, 60

grace, 50

Sweet providence unseen, 59

Yale Lectures on Preaching,

Sweetie-Pie, 122–23

106

Your God will be my God,

Take the risks of love, 141–42

33–35

Telling a neighbor about

Jesus, 111

The best is yet to come, 100

Thorn, 140

Tool-and-die shop, 72

Trifling, 120

Trust the sovereignty of God,

136–40

158

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11/17/09 12:12 PM

COmPlete list Of BOOks By JOhn PiPer

God’s Passion for His Glory

Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to

The Pleasures of God

Die

Desiring God

God Is the Gospel

The Dangerous Duty of Delight

What Jesus Demands from the

World

Future Grace

Amazing Grace in the Life of

A Hunger for God

William Wilberforce

Let the Nations Be Glad!

Battling Unbelief

A Godward Life

Suffering and the Sovereignty of

Pierced by the Word

God (with Justin Taylor)

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ

50 Crucial Questions

The Misery of Job and the Mercy

When the Darkness Will Not Lift

of God

The Future of Justification

The Innkeeper

The Supremacy of Christ in a

The Prodigal’s Sister

Postmodern World

Recovering Biblical Manhood

(with Justin Taylor)

and Womanhood

Spectacular Sins

What’s the Difference?

Finally Alive: What Happens When

The Justification of God

We Are Born Again

Counted Righteous in Christ

John Calvin and His Passion for the

Majesty of God

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals

Rethinking Retirement

The Supremacy of God in Preaching

This Momentary Marriage:

Beyond the Bounds

A Parable of Permanence

(with Justin Taylor)

Stand: A Call for the Endurance of

Don’t Waste Your Life

the Saints (with Justin Taylor)

The Passion of Jesus Christ

Velvet Steel

Life as a Vapor

t

A God-Entranced Vision of All

he swans are nOt silent

s

Things (with Justin Taylor)

eries

The Legacy of Sovereign Joy

When I Don’t Desire God

The Hidden Smile of God

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ

(with Justin Taylor)

The Roots of Endurance

Taste and See

Contending for Our All

Filling up the Afflictions of Christ

159

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11/17/09 12:12 PM

If you would like to further explore the vision of God and life pre-

sented in this book, we at Desiring God would love to serve you.

We have hundreds of resources to help you grow in your passion

for Jesus Christ and help you spread that passion to others. At our

website, desiringGod.org, you’ll find almost everything John Piper

has written and preached, including more than thirty books. We’ve

made over twenty-five years of his sermons available free online for

you to read, listen to, download, and in some cases watch.

In addition, you can access hundreds of articles, listen to our daily

internet radio program, find out where John Piper is speaking, learn

about our conferences, discover our God-centered children’s cur-

ricula, and browse our online store. John Piper receives no royalties

from the books he writes and no compensation from Desiring God.

The funds are all reinvested into our gospel-spreading efforts. DG

also has a whatever-you-can-afford policy, designed for individu-

als with limited discretionary funds. If you’d like more information

about this policy, please contact us at the address or phone num-

ber below. We exist to help you treasure Jesus Christ and his gospel

above all things because he is most glorified in you when you are

most satisfied in him. Let us know how we can serve you!

Desiring God

Post Office Box 2901

Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402

888.346.4700

mail@desiringGod.org

www.desiringGod.org

160

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Document Outline

- Contents

- Introduction

- CHAPTER 1: Sweet and Bitter Providence

- CHAPTER 2: Under the Wings of God

- CHAPTER 3: Strategic Righteousness

- CHAPTER 4: May My Redeemer Be Renowned

- Final Appeals

- Acknowledgments

- Scripture Index

- Person Index

- Subject Index

- Resources Page

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction

CHAPTER 1: Sweet and Bitter Providence

CHAPTER 2: Under the Wings of God

CHAPTER 3: Strategic Righteousness

CHAPTER 4: May My Redeemer Be Renowned

Final Appeals

Acknowledgments

Scripture Index

Person Index

Subject Index

Resources Page