I finished teaching the book of Ruth today to the youth Sunday School class. As I finished my studies on this book, Romans 8:28 came to mind- And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

God used the hardships and the blessings in the lives of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz to ultimately bring glory to Himself. Isn’t that what it is all about? God blessing us, challenging us, and using us in order to fulfill His divine plan- the redemption of man through faith in Jesus. We are His instruments to show others the boundless love of God, pointing them to the path of everlasting life. While we each are granted the choice to choose His way or our way, His Word is clear that He desires no one to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Our purpose is to be used by God and, in that process, we are promised that all that happens in our lives will result in the good.

John Piper has written a book titled, A Sweet and Bitter Providence . This is a great read for further study on Ruth. You can download it to your computer for free! Here is a sampling of his thoughts as he concluded his thoughts on Ruth…

 The book of Ruth wants to teach us that God’s purpose for the life of his people is to connect us to something far greater than ourselves. God wants us to know that when we follow him our lives always mean more than we think they do. For the Christian there is always a connection between the ordinary events of life and the stupendous work of God in history. Everything we do in obedience to God, no matter how small, is significant. It is part of a cosmic mosaic which God is painting to display the greatness of his power and wisdom to the world and to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:10). The deep satisfaction of the Christian life is that it is not given over to trifles. Serving a widowed mother-in-law, gleaning in a field, falling in love, having a baby — for the Christian these things are all connected to eternity. They are part of something so much bigger than they seem.

So the word glory is not too strong. The life of the godly is not a straight line to glory, but they do get there — God sees to it. There is a hope for us beyond the cute baby and the happy grandmother. If there weren’t we would be of all men most miserable. The story points forward to David. David points forward to Jesus. And Jesus points forward to the resurrection of our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:23) when “death will be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

The best is yet to come. That is the unshakable truth about the life of the woman and the man who follow Christ in the obedience of faith. I say it to the young who are strong and hopeful, and I say it to the old, for whom the outer nature is quickly wasting away. The best is yet to come.