Bible Study Review of Love and Loyalty: Heart Lessons from the Book of Ruth
Margaret Gartlgruber focuses on humility in this review of Alli Koscal’s bible study of Love and Loyalty: Lesson from the Book of Ruth.
When my children were little, I remember struggling to get them to eat—especially peas. Looking back, I’m not sure why I made them eat peas when I don’t even eat peas myself. I suppose it is a bit hypocritical.
Anyway, as many moms do, I would sit with them while they were eating and speak soothing words, spoon-feeding them bit by bit—encouraging them to open their mouths and receive nourishment, explaining the benefits of smooshed peas (though not why I refused to eat them), and giving them tastes of sweet banana in between. They were too little to understand what I was saying, but if I kept my manner calm and gently, they would open their mouths and receive what I was offering them.
Book of Ruth
Experiencing Alli Koscal’s newest Bible study, Love and Loyalty: Heart Lessons from the Book of Ruth, reminded me of this. I was that child, with Alli spoon-feeding me the story of Ruth, bit by bit. Her voice speaking soothing words—encouraging me to continue, explaining what this means and why that matters, and giving sweet tastes in between the more uncomfortable ones.
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I have read the Book of Ruth, of course, I mean, it is super short, and when you want to check one of the books of the Bible off your list, you can finish it pretty quickly and pat yourself on the back. However, Alli made me slow down and really dig deep, one verse at a time—one spoonful at a time.
Ruth marries Naomi’s son. When their husbands both die and Naomi decides to return home, Ruth chooses to go with her instead of returning to her own family. They face a long journey and many hardships, with no idea how they will survive once they arrive. Ruth refuses to leave Naomi.
My favorite lesson was what happened when Ruth met Boaz and their love story began.
A Lesson in Humility
In Lesson 4, Beautiful and Beloved, Day 1, Alli invites us to look closely at Ruth 3:10–11. Naomi instructs Ruth to lie at Boaz’s feet—essentially proposing to him. And she does.
Even though I knew how the story would unfold, I still wanted to warn Ruth: What are you doing?! You will get hurt! Your reputation will be ruined! He might take advantage of you!
But Ruth trusted her mother-in-law. And Boaz knew her story…her devotion to Naomi moved him. So when Ruth made herself as vulnerable as she possibly could, that vulnerability demonstrated a humility that confirmed everything Boaz already knew about her.
“Because of her profound humility, God can shine clearly through Ruth, and Boaz experienced the love of God by way of Ruth’s beautiful and bold proposal.”
Allie Koscal
Alli challenges us to see how this humility mirrors Mary’s. In the Annunciation, Mary’s humility allowed Christ to dwell within her. In the same way, if we grow in humility, Christ can grow in us and shine through us to those we love—allowing others to experience God’s love as well.
Learning to be loved is a struggle for many of us. Humility helps us overcome that struggle—letting ourselves be loved by God.
Margaret Gartlgruber
Alli’s writing is love all the way through
I wondered how she would draw out eight weeks of lessons from such a short book. When I realized that each week was small and bite-sized, I figured out why it was so remarkable. Breaking down each detail and explaining it’s meaning and significance allowed me to sit and rest in each part of this story.
There are times when life is hard. We are given things we do not like when all we really want are the bananas. We have to go through those heartbreaking, challenging times to get to the sweet peace God has planned.
When we see God’s wraps the good and bad of our lives in His love and mercy, suddenly we will gladly eat those peas!
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