Woo Hoo! It’s time to start our new Bible Study on
Ruth. Ready to learn 5 habits from a Woman that doesn’t quit? Hope this past
week you have prepared yourself for this study through prayer.
This study is designed for 6 weeks, each divided
into 5 days of reading and activity. Some of you will do it daily and others
all in one day. Either way is right as long as your spend time in the Word,
reflections on how it applies or can apply to your life and prayer.
Each day had a “QUIT
QUITING VERSE”. Write them to your heart. Post-it notes on your mirrors, In
your car, at work are wonderful ways to help.
There is also the Q.U.I.T strategy.
Q- Questions we need to ask and answer.
U- Understanding the Word. Summarizing the readings, characters and
words during the week of the story of Ruth.
I – Into the Promise. There is a promise in every
story in Scripture and Ruth is filled with promises of hope.
T- Turn something around. This is another time of reflections to
where we need to action and change.
WHAT TO READ THIS WEEK:
RUTH 1:1-18
QUIT QUITTING VERSES:
DAY 1 ROMANS 5:3-4
DAY 2 ROMAN 8:13
DAY 3 1 PETER 5:8
DAY 4 PSALM 34:18
DAY 5 HEBREWS 10:23
Let get in the Word:
The story of Ruth
takes place during the period of the rule of the judges, when the people did
whatever seemed right in their own eyes. Hmmmm kinda like this day and time.
Due to a famine,
Elimelech decided to take his family to Moab, a country known to be Israel’s
enemy and where they worshipped pagan gods. Do you see the first “QUIT” here?
The situation was getting hard and instead of asking God what to do and trust
God, Elimelech did what “he thought was right in his eyes.”
Famine was often
evidence of God’s discipline because His people had sinned against Him. Lev 26:18-20; Deut. 28:15
When trouble comes
to our lives we can do one of three things: ENDURE, ESCAPE, or ENLIST. If we only endure our trials, the trials
become our master and we have a tendency to become hard and bitter. IF we try
to escapes our trials, then we will probably miss the purpose God wants to achieve
in our lives. But if we enlist our trial, they become our servant instead of
our master and work for us and God
will work all things together for our good and His glory. Romans 8:28.
No matter how
difficult our circumstances may be, the safest and best place is in the will of
God. Elimelech walked by sight and not
by faith. To walk by faith is claiming the promises of God and obeying the Word
of God, in spite of what we see, how we feel or what may happen.
Elimelech traveled
about 50 miles into pagan (enemy) territory. Bad decision. His sons married the
women of Moab. Jews were forbidden to marry Gentile women, especially those
from Ammon and Moab. They left Judah to escape from starving to death, yet
death followed them to Moab.
We now have 3
widowed women. Naomi heard that the famine had ended “back home” So she decided
to return. Luke 15:17 says. there’s always bread enough and to
spare when you are in the Father’s will. How sad it is when people only hear of
God’s blessings but never experience it, because they are not in the place
where God can bless them.
There was almost
nothing worse than being a widow in the ancient world. They were taken
advantage of or ignored. They were almost always poverty stricken. God’s law
however, provided for the widow’s nearest relative to the deceased husband
should be the one that cared for the widow.
Naomi’s decision to
return to Bethlehem was right but her motives was still about food and
furthermore, she didn’t want her daughter-in-laws to go with her. She tried to
influence them to return to their land and their false god.
Why do you think
she didn’t want them to return with her? Could it be that the women would be
living proof that Naomi and her husband had allowed their two sons to marry
women from outside the Jewish nation?
Then Naomi blames
herself for the sorrow and pain the three women had experienced. Do you think
she had been walking with Lord? Sounds almost like a guilty conscious of
something she had done that was displeasing to God.
Orpah decided to return
to her homeland. QUIT. But Ruth
refused to turn around. She had come to know and trust the God of Israel and
she wanted to be with His people and dwell in His land.
Ruth confessed her
love for her mother-in-law and her desire to stay with her even unto death.
Then she confessed her faith in the true and living God and her decision to
worship Him.
She was willing to
forsake her father and mother in order to cleave to Naomi and the God of her
people. Ruth was determined.
Q.U.I.T strategy.
Q – QUESTIONS WE NEED TO
ASK AND ANSWER
From the
assigned reading, Ruth 1:1-18, what are some questions you would like to have answered?
U – UNDERSTANDING THE WORD
List all 6
characters in this story that we have read this week.
Lisa at least 4 life-altering events that we saw happening.
I – INTO THE PROMISE
You studied
5 Quit Quitting Verses this week. Which of these verses did you need the most
this week. Write out how it can help you step into God’s promises for your
life.
T – TURN SOMETHING AROUND
Which of
these areas did you feel challenged by God this week.:
Moving too quickly when I don’t see God working
Leaving because
things get hard
The need to cling tighter to God.
NEXT WEEK WE WILL LEARN OUR FIRST HABIT
