Ruth 1:1-7, 15-22; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Ruth 1:16(NIV): But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.

Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi both experienced loss in their lives. But their responses were very different.

Naomi was:

· Bitter - Ruth 1:20

· Hopeless - Ruth 1:21

Ruth was:

· Faithful - Ruth 1:16-18

· Hopeful - Ruth 2:11-12

Our circumstances are often out of our control, but our response to them is not. Ruth chose faith over bitterness. God rewarded her physically and spiritually. She was the great-grandmother of David, and part of the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5)

The lesson for us is to look beyond our circumstances and see God’s hand at work for good in our lives.

Habakkuk 3:17-18(NIV): Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

2 Corinthians 4:18(NIV): So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.