I don't think we're comfortable when God colors outside the lines, when he does the unexpected. But I serve a God that's bigger than my understanding, a surprising and unlimited Creator. I think He's constantly telling me that things we are argue about miss the point. We are all a million miles away from God arguing over who is two inches closer. God is in the action of the Bible. Not the rules.
Ok, so what has me hoping up on my soapbox? The story of Ruth. Interrupting the violent and adventurous tales of leaders and great judges and the battles between Israel and the Promised Land's many occupying nations, against this sweeping epic backdrop is the a chic-flick sort of story about three widows.
Jair and his 30 sons on 30 donkeys in 30 cities only get a couple of verses. Ruth gets a book. And what makes this even more surprising to me is the fact that Ruth is a Moabite. The Moabities are descendents of the incestuous relationship between Lot and his older daughter. [Genesis 19:37] And we've read earlier that the Moabites were excluded from the Lord's assembly to the tenth generation. [Deut. 23:3] Noami's tragic circumstances -- being widowed and the death of both of her sons -- could have easily been interpreted as what happens when you marry outside of the chosen people. Ruth is an outsider, not one of the chosen. Yet, her devotion to her mother-in-law and her mother-in-law's God earns her a place in God's word.
We argue over who is going to heaven. The answer is: God knows. There is only one way -- through Christ. But following that way takes all sorts of different courses in the Bible. You can live and never die (even though God said man would die) like Enoch. You can share His suffering on the cross and never follow the "plan of salvation" -- the thief. God will save whom He will save. All we can do is follow His Word. And leave the exact plan of salvation to Him. This is not to say we shouldn't seek to follow God's word. This doesn't mean we shouldn't seek to be saved as the Bible and the Lord prescribe it. It's just we shouldn't use the path of salvation as a measuring stick to determine who will be saved. Let God be the judge. Because He is.
They may go by a variety of names but God's people are God's people. And God will do what He will do. He will gloss over the stories of judges and nations and then pause to spend an inordinate amount of time telling the story of three widows -- and the focus of this story being a Moabite named Ruth.
This Moabite will be the great-grandmother of a great king, King David. And from the house of David will arise the Christ.
Is this how we would have written God's story?
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