Redeemed or not redeemed?
That is the question

“And the close relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I
cannot redeem it.” (Ruth 4.6)

Unfortunately, 99 percent of believers make the wrong choice of trusting God with their emotional faith rather than the rational. We are the ones who decide which kind of faith we are to approach God with. God gave us feelings to enjoy, not to mix with faith, because those results cannot be good.

If you observe Ruth’s story, you’ll see someone who apparently is losing everything, but ultimately, she is gaining much more by her perseverance and trust in God. Ruth was a foreigner in the midst of the people of Israel. When her young husband died, she was left alone with her mother in law. The opportunity came for her to go back to her people and start a new life, but she decided to serve God, and not to abandon Naomi, the old lady whom she loved, and who taught her to live by faith.

Life was hard for those two poor widows. Ruth used to collect leftovers so she and Naomi could survive. She suffered all kinds of verbal abuse and was despised, but she remained faithful because she knew God would manifest His power and her day would come. She did not let her feelings get the best of her, but did everything she had to do with dignity, until her redemption day came.

According to the custom of the time, a close relative of the family should marry her, to perpetuate the family, but the man who was supposed to do this totally despised her. In fact, no one would normally consider taking that woman, a widow and foreigner who lived on leftovers, as a wife. But one man, Boaz, saw in her what others wouldn’t see. He loved her and fought for the right to redeem and marry her.

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