RUTH’S CHOICE
Today’s Reading: Ruth 1-2
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Ruth’s home country of Moab was located east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea, and south of the Arnon (Numbers 21:10-15). Today, Moab is within the Kingdom of Jordan. It was in the Plains of Moab, opposite Jericho (Numbers 22:1, 26:63, Joshua 13:32) that the Israelites made their last encampment before they entered the Promised Land.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Ruth 1:16
But Ruth said:
“Entreat me not to leave you,
Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.”
In the midst of the time of the Judges comes this beautiful love story. The book of Ruth is an account of one of the most moving acts of loyalty, and of the way that God honoured that love and loyalty. Even while evil and corruption seemed so prominent in Israel, there were many honourable people who loved and served God. That number included a Moabite woman who had married an Israelite and was now a widow. In a time when Israel was often in apostasy, she left her idolatrous religion to embrace the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth is a bright shining light pointing to the way of faith in the One true God. Over 1,000 years later, Jesus, the Son of God, would be born in Ruth’s adopted hometown of Bethlehem. From the lineage of Ruth comes the Messiah, the Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, Ruth and Boaz were your great-great, etc. grandparents. You are 100% Human and also 100% God. As a Human, You show me how to live as a man. You are my Mentor, my Example, and my Hero. Please give me grace to follow You more closely today than yesterday. In Your loving Name I pray. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I was thrilled to participate in the wedding of our second daughter, Ellen, to Nizar Shaheen, an Israeli Arab who is ordained in the Nazareth Baptist Church. As a part of the ceremony, Ellen quoted, in the Arabic language, the words of our key verse. What a powerful moment. Israeli television co-operated with TV networks in Canada and the USA to carry the wedding live across North America. In advance, we had distributed thousands of copies of a document called, “A Marriage Covenant.” I encouraged married couples everywhere to renew their vows as Ellen and Nizar said theirs at the Church in Nizar’s home village of Cana of Galilee. Jesus, His mother, and several of the disciples were guests there at another wedding 2,000 years before, and Jesus did His first miracle of turning the water into wine (read John 2:1-11). The people of Cana still call the wedding of Nizar and Ellen “the other wedding” (click here for Ellen saying the words of Ruth to her beloved Nizar).
Today, Nizar and Ellen are all over the Arabic-speaking world on TV and on the internet, winning thousands of precious people to Jesus through Light For All Nations.
Yours for love and loyalty,
David
Madaba, Jordan, just near mount Nebo where Moses looked out over the Promised Land, has a church named The Church of the Map. The church is also known as Church of Saint George. The mosaic floor map (pictured below) has the oldest known map of Jerusalem and its surrounding Biblical regions.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Love the story of Ruth. Amazing wedding of Ellen & Nizar. My husband went on the farriswheel @ Canada’s Wonderland with Ellen when she was about 16!
The book of Ruth has been a source of inspiration and encouragement for many reasons. One is the reminder of God’s unfailing and unconditional love and grace. Even as Naomi and Ruth have lost their loved ones and Naomi feels that God has “testified against me”; God’s plan eventually manifests and we realize that we need to Always trust Him. Whenever God allows something / someone to be taken away; it is for His Divine Purpose and it means that He has better in store for us. I am living proof……..
I have been doing this blog for < 3 years and since then my Fiancé, Joel & I do our Devotion together most days here. Please pray for us as we are in a long distance relationship and won't likely be together until early 2018.
Thank you and your family Sir David for the dedication and commitment in ensuring that we have the blog for Devotion each day. This is indeed a labour of love. May God continue to bless you with length of days and good health.
Have an absolutely amazing day everyone!
This song may be meant for you and Joel, Marti–amen!
Thank you for sharing this link to this absolutely beautiful song Beverlee.
God bless you abundantly.
Lord God bless this long distance relationship! Bless them as they do the devotions, give them wisdom, strength, grace, mercy, and continued love as they grow more in love each day!
TY for sharing your story! God bless you both!
Thank you SAH for your prayers. I am truly appreciative.
We continue to trust God.
God bless you in abundance.
Have an amazing day.
Wonderful scripture, prayer, photos, message and links with your daughter’s wedding vows–goes so perfectly with Ruth–thank you, David! Blessings fellow saints in the Lord on this cold March day! But so happy to set our clocks ahead, tonight!
“a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure… And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’…For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Cor 12:7b, 9, 10b NKJV
Nothing Can Separate Us – Shannon Wexelberg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jxhkP544BA
What a great love story!!! Did not click on the link of Ellen and Nizar’s wedding, as still no sound on my computer. However, I was blessed to see the wedding as it took place!!
I did not receive the blog again today.
S
Beautiful love story…I just kept reading all of Ruth.. such a deeply moving story from so many perspectives…it is truly amazing how God works out His Perfect Eternal plan….Such an amazing story.. I hope it is an encouragement to all who feel things are going against them… when we are in God’s hand, we know that through it all he is working out his perfect plan in our lives …that results in being a blessing to others…
Also a nice “wedding touch’ of Ellen & Nizar. I’ve been to Cana. The whole town’s advertising of products is a spin-off of the Wedding in Cana that Jesus attended and performed the miracle of turning water into wine…
Blessings,
S
Thank you for the link to Light For All Nations. It’s wonderful to read about Nizar and Ellen’s outreach in the Middle East and also in Canada.
May God bless these efforts!
Great photos to go with today’s scripture!!
wondering why I’m unable to get March 12th blog into my “inbox”….or get to post a message? Hope all is well with you Pastor David.
although I was able to pray with you on the March 12th blog, by going through March 11th.
I also have not received Sunday or Monday’s blog through my email inbox. I felt lost without it but managed to get to the postings through Saturday’s email.