The Lord Your God Loves You

The Lord Your God Loves You

Deuteronomy 23:3 – An Ammonite or Moabite may not enter the assembly of the LORD; to the tenth generation none of the descendants shall ever do so, 4 – for they did not meet you with food and water on the way as you came from Egypt, and furthermore, they hired Balaam son of Beor of Pethor in Aram Naharaim to curse you.

Verse 5 – But the LORD your God refused to listen to Balaam and changed the curse to a blessing, for the LORD your God loves you. 6 – You must not seek peace and prosperity for them through all the ages to come.

But what about Ruth? She was a Moabite. She had also become a widow, and a foreigner. Furthermore, she renounced her people and her gods. At her mother-in-law, Naomi’s, urging to go back to her people Ruth responded with these beloved words: “Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people,and your God will become my God. Wherever you die, I will die – and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me severely if I do not keep my promise! Only death will be able to separate me from you!” – Ruth 1:16, 17.

Boaz, upon learning about Naomi and Ruth, followed the directives outlined in Deuteronomy 24:19 – Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the LORD your God may bless all the work you do. What was the end result? Recorded in the genealogy of Jesus Christ we find the following entries in Matthew 1:5, 6 – Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth), Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king…. Ruth, the former Moabite, was King David’s great-grandmother and specifically named in the genealogy of Jesus! This is the same Jesus who bore the curse of sin for us so that we could be blessed with His righteousness!

There will not be any Ammonites or Moabites in the kingdom of heaven yet many like Ruth will be there because they will have renounced their people, their ways and their gods and be accepted into the family of God. Let us be wary of professing Christianity while adopting the spirit of the Ammonites and Moabites by denying aid to those in need. May we, too, renounce our seflish ways, and our idolatry lest we be denied a place in that great assembly of God when Jesus returns.

Dear Jesus, we praise You for refusing to listen to the Balaams of this world. We praise You for overcoming the Ammonites and Moabites. We praise You for changing the curse into a blessing and for granting us a place in Your great heavenly assembly! Help us all to see how much You truly love us. Amen!