Refuge

"The LORD repay you fully under whose wings you have come for refuge," Ruth 2:12.

Here she is, a stranger in a strange land. What of her people? Her husband? Dead. His father? Dead. His brother? Dead. She has only an old mother-in-law left of that family. A hopeless woman who didn't want her. So what's young widow Ruth to do? She leaves father, mother, native land. She takes on Naomi's wanderings. She takes on Naomi's lodgings. She takes on Naomi's people. She takes on Naomi's God. She takes on Naomi's grave. She binds her heart to that old, embittered Naomi, and won't let go. And, at the end of a long, hard day in the fields gathering food for them, she hears the words noted above. Ruth shows what it looks like to come under God's wings for refuge.

O, for a faith that will not shrink though pressed by every foe! As we give thanks today with a brother or sister, we find security together in our God who will repay that faith fully.