Ruth 4:13, 17 – God Rewards Faithfulness

¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son.

…

¹⁷ And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Ruth had continually been faithful both to God and her family. She had left her home, her friends, and any family she had besides Naomi to go to a foreign country. Now, after working in Boaz’s field for several weeks and asking Boaz to marry her and redeem her dead husband’s family tree and property, Ruth gets her reward. The first part of her reward was that God gave her a husband. Secondly, God gave her a son from that husband. The interesting thing about this is that God did not only give Ruth a Son, but her descendants would be very important people. Ruth’s son, Obed, was the grandfather of King David. That is the dame David that would kill Goliath and later became king of Israel! We also see that one of Obed’s descendants will eventually be Jesus Himself!! What a family that God allowed Ruth to be part of because of her faithfulness!

For us Christians, this passage has a couple of different possible applications. First, if you are being faithful to God and your responsibilities, God sees that. Sometimes, it is very easy to feel like you keep on doing what is right and nobody even notices what you are doing. Don’t worry, God knows and he will reward you. Secondly, if you are not as faithful as you should be to church, God, or any of your responsibilities (I believe all of us could probably improve somewhere), then you need to start being faithful! God will reward those who are faithful with the best things. Jesus said, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” (Luke 16:10). We need to be faithful in everything, no matter how big or small.

Life Step: Think about it…

What little things do you need to be faithful to?

What kind of rewards has God given you for faithfulness?