Come Follow Me 2022 LDS (June 6-12) Ruth 1 & Samuel 1-3 | Ruth & Hanna’s Redemption – powered by Happy Scribe

Is your life going exactly as originally planned, or is the road you’re on filled with more potholes and detours than you hoped for? After the end of the crazy Book of Judges, we find two beautiful stories about three women whose lives are certainly not working out as they’d originally hoped, but with God’s power and redemption, they witness miracles. Now, during the time of the Judges, Alamalek and his wife Naomi, from the tribe of Judah, have two sons, Malone and Killian. They’re a faithful and believing family living in Bethlehem, which means house of bread. But currently there’s no bread at all because there’s a big famine and they’re super duper hungry. Together, Alamalek and Naomi make the difficult decision to move to Moab among foreigners who don’t know the true God, but they do have food. While living there, both sons marry admirable Moabite women, Orpa and Ruth. And just when life seems to be going according to plan, Alemalek and both sons suddenly die. Wow. So now what with broken hearts? The three widows are utterly alone, and back then, childless widows had very few options. Distraught but determined, Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem and tells her two daughters inlaw to return to their families because she knows she can’t support them.

Reluctantly, or believes. But Ruth loves Naomi profoundly. And more importantly, Ruth Enos and loves Naomi’s God.

So she begs, don’t urge me to leave you. 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 personifies Christ’s goodness, love, and service as she prepares to become an outsider among the Israelites. Arriving together in Bethlehem with no food, Ruth immediately becomes a Gleaner. What’s a Gleaner? Well, in the law of Moses, when a farmer harvested his field, he left the outside edge of the field along with any grain that fell throughout the field, untouched for the pour together or glean. Now Ruth is inspired to glean in the field of Boaz, a very rich and influential farmer who also embodies Christlike kindness and service. Boaz notices Ruth and learns of her awesome sacrifice to be with her mother in law and offers Ruth help. Returning home, Ruth tells Naomi about Boaz, and Naomi remembers that Boaz is a near Kinsman. Why does that matter? Well, the law of Moses includes the Leverett law of marriage that States if a husband dies, his nearest male Kinsman has the duty to support and Mary the widow, becoming the woman’s Redeemer. In fact, the term near Kinsman in Hebrew is Goel, meaning Redeemer, and the vital word redeem means to rescue or pay off an obligation. So Naomi, as a great woman of faith, excitedly creates a plan for Ruth to approach Boaz to ask that he take the role of near Kinsman and marry Ruth.

Can you imagine how incredibly nervous she must have been? Fortunately, Boaz knows Ruth’s kind heart and marries her. She and Naomi move into Boaz’s home and are redeemed from their poverty. Later, Ruth and Boaz have a son and eventually become the great grandparents of King David, through whose lineage came Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of us all. Today, as we plead to Jesus Christ to be saved and redeemed from our challenges and weaknesses, we too are like Ruth, and Jesus is our Savior, rescuing us from physical death and our Redeemer by paying the debts of sin we can’t pay ourselves. Our next story is about Hannah, whose life is also not going according to plan. All she wants from life is to be a mother, but for many, many years, she’s unable to have children. Grieving, Hannah worships at the temple each year with her husband. Filled with faith and knowing God hears prayers, she pleads for a child while kneeling outside the Tabernacle walls. Wanting to offer something of great worth to God, she vows, if thou will.

Give me a son, I will give him unto thee all the days of his life.

Unfortunately, Eli, the temple priest, totally misreads this tender moment and can only see Hannah’s lips moving wordlessly while crying on the ground. Assuming the worst, he calls her a drunk and tells her to leave. Surprised, Hannah explains, no, my Lord, I’m.

Not drunk, but I’ve poured out my soul before the Lord.

Realizing his mistake, Eli quickly apologizes and prophetically blesses her, go in peace. May the God of Israel grant thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And sure enough, later that year, Hannah’s prayers are answered as she’s redeemed from her childless state and gives birth to her son, Samuel. Obediently, she keeps her sincere vow and raises Samuel until he’s old enough to leave her side and then brings him to the temple to spend the rest of his life serving God. Astonishingly, she gave her only son to God just as God gave his only son to us. Now, in reading about Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah, we see examples of incredible faith, hope and prayers. So when our lives don’t go as planned and everything seems to be falling apart, we too can likewise turn to the Lord in mighty prayer for our redemption. And sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no. But most of the time the answer is just to wait. And remember that when we turn to him, our great Redeemer is there. So Hannah’s blessed with a miraculous baby boy. But what will happen to Samuel as she turns his life over to God?

Find out next time. It takes a lot to make these videos, so to keep line upon line free for everyone, consider donating the links in the description below. And thanks for watching. This episode is packed with info so you might want to watch it again to make sure you didn’t miss anything, including the hilarious jokes. If you feel this video has helped you on your path towards truth and Christian discipleship, please subscribe. Most importantly, go read the scriptures for yourself.