Who doesn’t love the Old Testament book of Ruth? You’re not sure you do or even what it’s about. Well, it takes only about thirty minutes to read its four chapters. Why not go for it?

Here’s the narrative in a nutshell– it’s about a family that flees their country due to drought and famine. They become immigrants in a foreign land only to be left destitute due to the deaths of the three breadwinner husbands. What should the surviving widows do? The scenario unfolds with varied twists and turns, culminating with the faithfulness of the main characters of Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi, not failing to mention God. However, what impresses me is how imperfect the human characters are.

Ruth comes from Moabite stock. A nation most inhospitable to Israel in their hour of need. Hence the prohibition of marrying in with that bunch. Stay clear of them. They’re hostile and unwelcoming, refusing to share. But here’s Moabite Ruth, now the wife of an Israeli man.

And Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, languishes sullen and depressed over all the losses in her life. She changes her name from Naomi, meaning ‘pleasant’, to Mara, meaning ‘bitter’. To add insult to injury, she blames God for the mess that she’s in–‘…for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me’ (Ruth 1:13).

Boaz is a descendent of Perez, whose claim to fame is that Jacob’s son Judah rapes his widowed daughter-in-law producing twin boys, one of which is Perez. Rahab is Boaz’s mother, a hard-working woman in Jericho, who shockingly runs a house of prostitution. Such a fun family tree in that forest! Sounds like root rot hits the big time.

And yet God’s care, mercy, and love shine through the book of Ruth. His fingerprints show up everywhere. What gives? Here’s my take. If all these imperfect folk, either due to their own or others’ sins, could be putty in God’s hands, wonderfully useful to the Lord, why can’t I? And you? The good news is that we can. When we’re in Christ, believing in Jesus and asking Him into our lives, we become not our own but His. Who better to take care of our messes, squeezing out the best lemonade from our rotten lemons, than our Lord Jesus?

That’s no excuse for continuing our sin. Missing God’s mark habitually. Scraping the bottom of our faithfulness barrel. Toying with Jesus as fence straddlers. I can’t punch my way out of a paper bag with my own strength. And yet…

And yet in the Lord, we’re given a fighting chance to make something good out of the stuff of our lives, as gritty and friable as they may be. And yet, in His hands, He molds a more godly me. Patterns us after His Son. Jesus’ template covers us with His traced imprint.

So, this week let’s live like who we are. Children of God. Born anew. Friends of Jesus. Still struggling with sin, and yet more and more useful for our Lord.

Lord Jesus, I love you and praise you for all your goodness to me. Amen.