Today we read the Book of Ruth! Woohoo! This couldn’t have fell on a better day, yeah? I hadn’t realized till a few days ago that our reading of Ruth was falling on a Friday and I thought, how perfect is this. We read the entire book and it’s a great book to cover, plus it’s FRIDAY so we can get an early start to our weekend if we’ve got weekend plans? I’m just going to be working on stuff for my taxes all weekend long, yay! FUN!! I know how to party over here!

So if you’re new here, my New Year’s resolution was to read the Bible from cover to cover in 90 days. In fact, reading the Bible from cover to cover in 90 days is the only New Year’s resolution I’ve ever kept, seriously. If we’re just keeping it real (in the fun loving words of my Pastor). Anyway today we’re on Day 25 of 90! It’s hard to believe that we’re almost 1/3 of the way done and right on track!

If you haven’t sat done to read the Book of Ruth yet, then please do so! It’s going to take you like 15 minutes (maybe 20-30 depending on your reading style) and it’s going to earn your bragging rights, “I read a whole book today”. Yeah, you’re welcome, just stop here and do it.

Okay so the 1st chapter in Ruth tells us of a famine! There’s this bad famine that prompts Naomi to move out from Judah. So Naomi and her family (her husband and two sons) get to Moab. Naomi’s husband, Elimelek, dies. Sad! Her two sons married these Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. After living there for about ten years, both of her sons died. Seriously. Can you imagine? Naomi prepares to go back to Bethlehem and she turns back to tell the girls to not go with her, that it’s going to be more bitter for her. Orpah kisses her and departs but Ruth stays by her side. It was a huge deal for Ruth, being a Moabite woman, to go to Judah. It was a hard travel for them I’m sure, but God is soveregn and even during their affliction, God already had a plan for them <enter Boaz>.

Once Naomi and Ruth had gotten “home”, Ruth married a man named Boaz and Ruth had a baby. Can you imagine the joy and love that Noami must have had carrying this child around her front yard? Rocking this baby to sleep? Singing to this sweet child? Loving this sweet baby . . . the Lord blessed her with child! It just gives me goosebumps. I know she loved that baby, could you imagine if her daughter-in-law hadn’t accompanied on her journey? Her story wasn’t over and God gave Naomi this little baby to love through Ruth & Boaz’s union, through the child Ruth would carry. (Yea, I’m excited for the day I get to be Gigi!)

There are many wonderful things in the Book of Ruth that we can take as little nuggets, like we’re all important to God, no matter our race, sex, or background. But I also love this reminder of His sovereignty and how He is the creator and at work in ways that we could NEVER ever imagine. Take the story of the lineage of Jesus. If you trace it all the way back you see how God uses all these different people (that you’d NEVER expect) to be a part of His lineage . . . and He is still doing that today. God has so very carefully, intricately woven people into our lives, in ways that we could never comprehend, and He’s doing this to help us but for His glory; to accomplish His will. He’s been doing this from the beginning, it’s evident from the start of creation, and we see it very clearly pictured here in the Book of Ruth. Just as God took the events in Ruth’s life (and Naomi’s) with the famine and Naomi and her family moving to Moab, Ruth’s marriage to Mahlon and his death, Ruth and Naomi’s relocation to Bethlehem, Boaz and Ruth’s marriage (and Boaz’s bloodline), and so many other things . . . God, only God, could have all these things so carefully strung together . . . to ensure that Ruth would have a part in His ultimate plan, and that she did! Ruth, sweet Ruth! Ruth, the great-grandmother of David!

“Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Ruth 1:16

Day 25 Ruth 1 –   4

Day 26 1 Samuel 1 – 16

Day 27 1 Samuel 17 – 1 Samuel 31

Day 28 2 Samuel 1 – 24

Day 29 1 Kings 1 – 22

Day 30 2 Kings 1 – 25

Day 31 1 Chronicles 1 – 8

Day 32 1 Chronicles 9 – 19

Day 33 1 Chronicles 20 – 29

Day 34 2 Chronicles 1 – 21

Day 35 2 Chronicles 22 – 36

Day 36 Ezra 1-  Ezra 10

Day 37 Nehemiah 1 –  Nehemiah 13

Day 38 Esther 1 –  Esther 10

Day38 Job 1 –  Job 23

Day 39 Job 24 –  Job 42

Day 40 Psalms 1 –  Psalms 21

Day 41 Psalms 22 – Psalms 60

Day 42 Psalms 61 – Psalms 90

Day 43 Psalms 91 – Psalms 115

Day 44 Psalms 116 – Psalms 150

Day 45 Proverbs 1 – Proverbs 15

Day 46 Proverbs 16 – Proverbs 31

Day 47 Ecclesiastes 1 – Ecclesiastes 12

Day 48 Song of Solomon 1 – Song of Solomon 8

Day 49 Isaiah 1 –  Isaiah 27

Day 50 Isaiah 28 – Isaiah 66

Day 51 Jeremiah 1 – Jeremiah 20

Day 52 Jeremiah 21 – Jeremiah 52

Day 53 Lamentations 1 – Lamentations 5

Day 54 Ezekiel 1 – Ezekiel 22

Day 55 Ezekiel 23 – Ezekiel 48

Day 56 Daniel 1 – Daniel 12

Day 57 Hosea 1 – Hosea 14

Day 58 Joel 1 – Joel 3

Day 59 Amos 1 – Amos 9

Day 60 Obadiah 1

Day 61 Jonah 1 – Jonah 4

Day 62 Micah 1 – Micah 7

Day 63 Nahum 1 – Nahum 3

Day 64 Habakkuk 1 – Habakkuk 3

Day 65 Zephaniah 1 – Zephaniah 3

Day 66 Haggai 1 – Haggai 2

Day 67 Zechariah 1 – Zechariah 14

Day 68 Malachi 1 – Malachi 4

NEW TESTAMENT

Day 69 Matthew 1 – Matthew 28

Day 70 Mark 1 – 16

Day 71 Luke 1 – Luke 12

Day 72 Luke 13 – Luke 24

Day 73 John 1 – John 21

Day 74 Acts 1 – Acts 15

Day 75 Acts 16 – Acts 28

Day 76 Romans 1 – Romans 16

Day 77 1 Corinthians 1 – 1 Corinthians 16

Day 78 2 Corinthians 1 – 2 Corinthians 13

Day 79 Galatians 1 – Galatians 6

Day 80 Ephesians 1 – Ephesians 6

Day 81 * Philippians 1 – Philippians 4 (Morning)

                Colossians 1 – Colossians 4 ( Afternoon)

                1 Thessalonians 1 – 1 Thessalonians 5 (Bedtime)

Day 82 2 Thessalonians 1 – 2 Thessalonians 3 (Morning)

                1 Timothy 1 – 1 Timothy 6  (Afternoon)

                2 Timothy 1 – 2 Timothy 4 (Bedtime)

Day 83 Titus 1 – Titus 3 (Morning )

                Philemon 1 (Afternoon)

                Hebrews 1 – Hebrews 13 (Bedtime)

Day 84 James 1 –  James 5  (Morning)

                1 Peter 1 – 1 Peter 5 (Afternoon)

                2 Peter 1 – 2 Peter 3 (Bedtime)

Day 85 1 John 1 – 1 John (Morning)

                2 John 1 (Afternoon)

                3 John  (Bedtime)

Day 86 Jude 1

Day 87 Revelation 1 – Revelation 6

Day 88 Revelation 7 – Revelation 18

Day 89 Revelation 19 – Revelation 22

Day 90 – PRAISE!