Great-Grandma's legacy

Ruth 1:18 Naomi saw that she was determined.

 The Bible handbook says that the book of Ruth was written after King David’s rise to power but that no one knows for certain either the author or the original purpose for writing the book.  That got me to thinking about the displays of faith we see all throughout the story of David’s grant grandmother Ruth and great-grandfather Boaz.  David has a strong faith heritage in them and that may be part of why he became such an example of faith himself.  Ruth did not have that strong faith-in-God heritage, but she was determined to follow what she had seen and heard in her husband and her in-laws.  To be determined means to be resolute, accepting no excuses.  So Ruth was not going to be deterred from following Naomi.  Her Moabite family ties did not stop her nor did her idol-worshipping up-bringing.  She had seen something that made her resolute in following Naomi’s faith in God.  She already had strong faith when she arrived in Bethlehem with Naomi and everything that happened after that only served to strengthen and grow her faith.  I can imagine little boy David hearing about Great Grandma Ruth from his father Jesse and when he was older, passing that story along to his children, perhaps this time in written form.  Maybe the prophet Samuel gave the written narrative to David in the earl years as he mentored the young man he had anointed to become king one day.  Ruth probably never knew her great-grandson David, at least not as an adult, but he certainly knew about her and her faith.

This is a picture of the two people who influenced my own journey of faith, my mother and father (I'm on my Daddy's lap).  My great-grandparents and grandparents were not strong faith examples but when my parents gave their hearts to Jesus, they, like Ruth, became the first in what they prayed would be a long line of faith-filled descendants.  Now my grandchildren have the same example David had of great-grandparents of faith.