Why study Ruth?

Ruth 1 & 2

Ruth is a story that helps us when we wonder where God is - when we’ve thought there should be miracles to help us out, but there are none (because there are no ‘supernatural’ events in this story).

It's for people who wonder where God is when one trouble or tragedy after another attacks their faith (because it begins with a series of tragic deaths in a single family).

It's a story for people who wonder whether there is any point in staying true to our Christian convictions in tough times (because in this account a young woman holds very tightly to right choices and experiences very deep joy as a result).

And it's a story for people who can't imagine that anything great could ever come of their ordinary lives of faith (because all the events in this account of Ruth are so ordinary and common as to be like pages from any family’s life – and yet they are interwoven with such iridescent and beautiful evidences of God’s grace that the lives of the people touch by him just shine with his glory in their joy).

So there is the aim of these two Sundays:

For you to understand that God can weave his glory into your everyday experience as he works out his plans for your good - so that even trouble and grief is worth enduring and joy (so real you can taste it) is attainable.