Ruth 1:1: In the days when the judges ruled (A Story of Love)

Welcome to the 1st sermon in our series on the book of Ruth. (1 of 12)

Many of us know the book of Ruth as a love story, but we forget that it took place during the time of the Judges when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 19:25). Ruth lived in a twisted world without much hope, much like our own world. We know what it is to carry the hurt and shame of things we have done and to carry the hurt and pain of things that have been done to us. We have all asked God: How could you let this happen? Where are you in our pain?

The book of Ruth shows God working in the least likely of ways with the least likely of people to disrupt a broken world with true love, hesed love. The Hebrew word hesed is a combination of commitment and sacrifice. It is one-way love. Love without an exit strategy, binding oneself to another person no matter how they respond. This is the love in the story of Ruth, the love that God shows to Israel, the love God show to us. The book of Ruth shows us that though we are in a situation far worse than we could ever imagine, at the very same time we are loved far more than we could ever dare hope.