Restoration

God is a Restorer. He loves to redeem and bring to wholeness. These past few weeks I’ve been reading the book of Ruth over and over again. I can’t seem to get enough of it. There is an overwhelming theme of restoration surging through the words of this book so I thought I’d share a few of my observations about the book.

 

The setting for the book of Ruth is in the time of the judges during a famine. In Deuteronomy we find a list of blessings for following the law and curses for breaking the law. One of the curses is God will bring famine for breaking the law and turning to other gods (Dt 28:17-18). We immediately find Naomi and her husband trying to escape the curse of famine by going to a neighboring country.

 

It is always interesting to look at the names of people in the Bible. There is a disparity between the two generations and their outlooks. We can see Naomi and Elimelech’s parents had hope by the names of their children (Naomi means My Delight and Elimelech means My God is King); however, by the time Naomi and her husband had children, they lost hope. My God is King and My Delight gave birth to Sick and Pining. They are depressed and oppressed by the famine. Soon My God is King and Sick and Pining die and My Delight takes on the name Bitter.

 

It is to this backdrop we are introduced to Ruth (friendship). Friendship stays by My Delight even when she becomes Bitter and followers her to a foreign land. Ruth gives up everything to follow Naomi to Israel. She gives up family and her culture to live as a widow and a foreigner in a country where she has no rights and no possibility of marriage (it was highly unusual for a foreigner to marry an Israelite) to survive on the generosity of others.

Once the author of Ruth establishes this, we then meet Boaz, “a worthy man” (2:1). Boaz immediately notices Ruth gleaning in his field. However, he doesn’t see her as others would see her. He sees her as a woman of worth and value. By his actions he restores to her identity and begins to free her from shame.

 

Boaz tells her to continue with his workers and glean in his fields throughout the harvest season. He tells her she can drink from the water drawn for the workers. Ruth asks why he is doing this for her and he proclaims a blessing over 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!”

 

At mealtime he invites her to join the reapers and gives her more than enough food. Widows were allowed to glean behind the workers and pick up what they dropped. However, Boaz tells his workers not to embarrass her if she started gathering with them. He did not want to bring shame upon her and begins to restore good standing to her.

 

Toward the end of the harvest season Ruth goes down to the threshing floor at night and asks Boaz to redeem her. The next day he meets with the elders of the town and restores her from a widow to a wife. We then learn that she is the great-grandmother of King David. Ruth’s previous husband died after 10 years of marriage and without children. It was a disgrace to not have children when you were married. But now, God has restored her in the eyes of man and added her to the lineage of David and Jesus. She has gone from widow to wife, from shame to joy, from destitution to prosperity. In the matter of a harvesting season, Ruth is restored to a better standing than she had when she was married and living in Moab.

 

Stories of restoration are not just for ancient times. God wants to restore us. He wants to bring healing to our lives, rest from our past, joy for our present and dreams for our future. As he gives us rest and healing he restores to us dreams for the future. We begin to believe we are created for more. We begin to believe we change nations and cities. We begin to believe the biggest dream we have in our hearts can be a reality.

 

We begin to see the value we have. God values us so much. His love for us is so deep. He valued us so much that He paid a high price for us. We have great worth. He gave His Son Jesus to die in our place. He believes we have so much value that He gave His Son as our price. Jesus rose so we could be with Him and have peace and joy restored. He frees us from shame and guilt and anger and hate. He instead gives us love and dreams and hope.

 

Begin to ask God how He sees you; then take time to listen. You may not hear anything at first but keep asking and keep looking. He won’t leave you no matter what you’ve done. He wants to free you from the past that haunts you. He wants to give you an amazing story of restoration and hope. He wants to show you how great His love is for you. Ask Him to show you. He will answer.

 

How precious are your thoughts concerning me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you (Ps 139:17-18 NIV).