Summary of the Bible in 52 Weeks: 7. Refuge

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!

Ruth 2:12 ESV

The book of Ruth is a beautiful love story between Ruth and Boaz (spoiler alert!). However, it is also a beautiful love story between God and his people. God's people aren't just ethnic Israel, but all, including Gentile Ruth, who take refuge in him.

We're not saved according to our ethnicity. We're saved if we take refuge in God from his rightful wrath at our rebellion against him. We deserve his condemnation, but we can find asylum with him.

If we take refuge in God, we will have good works to show for it. We won't be persistently rebellious against the Lord if we belong to him. We ought to be defined by love of God and of one another.

Ruth could have abandoned her bereft and bitter mother-in-law Naomi. She could have remarried a fellow Moabite. Yet she chose to commit to Naomi's God and people.

'Lord God, may we take refuge in you, and be rewarded for our striving to honour you in our lives. For we ask these things in Christ's name, amen'.

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