Two nights ago a man was killed by a driver on the side of the road and left to die near where I live. Across the world, women are being rounded up and given as wives to Taliban militants. In Haiti, a presidential assassination is a drop in the bucket of pain caused by devastations from earthquake and hurricanes. All of the books in the world wouldn’t cover the pain our fellow image bearers are enduring around the globe. From a macro perspective we look like a lawless and loveless mess of a world. At this very moment I’m grateful to find myself in the Word of God which has proven to be the greatest encouragement in the midst of what looks like a hopeless, agony-ridden world.

This week in our reading plan we crossed over from Judges to Ruth. The book of Judges begins with an outline of what you’ll read in the book ahead. I’ve abbreviated it here.

Joshua son of Nun…died at the age of 110…After [his generation] another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works he had done for Israel.

The Israelites did what was evil in the LORD’s sight…They angered the LORD, for they abandoned him…and he handed them over to…their enemies. Whenever the Israelites went out, the LORD was against them and brought disaster on them, just as he had promised and sworn to them. So they suffered greatly.

The LORD raised up judges…Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, the LORD was with him and saved the people from the power of their enemies while the judge was still alive. The LORD was moved to pity whenever they groaned because of those who were oppressing and afflicting them. Whenever the judge died, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their fathers, following other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them. They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ways.

Sure enough, throughout the book of Judges it becomes almost indiscernible whether the main characters are even judges anymore because the people have become so debased and without direction there seems to be no one around to save them. In fact, what we find at the end of Judges is Israel in a complete and total state of depravity—such depravity that it echoes almost precisely what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah that caused fire and brimstone to rain down on them. It begs the obvious question: What’s different this time? Why did Sodom and Gomorrah get destroyed while Israel gets redeemed? Why does God not rain this kind of judgment down on Israel, who clearly deserves it? We will come back to these questions when we read Romans 9. But there’s something we need to look at first.

The book of Judges closes with these words: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did whatever seemed right to him." Boom—end scene.

Cut to Ruth.

On the very next page of the Bible, the book of Ruth opens: “During the time of the judges…” Ruth is one of the most beautiful books of the Bible. It is a story of unmerited kindness, grace, hospitality, and deep love. It is four chapters filled with goodness and hope, and you should stop what you’re doing right now and read it, keeping this in mind: Boaz is a representation of Christ. He’s living a faithful life in the midst of a culture that seems entirely hopeless. He’s living a life of faith in the midst of a Sodom and Gomorrah society. Boaz’s domain—his chunk of responsibility—is run according to the rules God set up for Israel in the beginning. He leaves excess grain for those who are vulnerable to harvest. He blesses those who work for him and they bless him in return. He redeems the family lineage of Naomi, though it means taking in a foreign woman considered worse than scum in that culture (though foreigners who chose the living God were never to be treated as scum according to God’s system; God set it up that they would always be welcomed and enfolded.)

Boaz is an absolutely stunning character in the midst of a culture no different than Sodom and Gomorrah. He’s very much a representation of Christ. His story—because of his faith—propels forward the story of redemption and will usher in the Savior of the world as He descends from Ruth. Even better…he is a representation of US! We are Christ’s representations, too! That’s what the word Christian actually means: little Christ.

Right now, as I write, women and children are being raped, beaten, and left at door steps right and left as the Taliban takes over Afghanistan. Right now there are house churches all over Afghanistan preparing to die for their faith. The world we live in looks like it’s falling apart. There are signs that we are in the midst of Sodom and Gomorrah--people doing whatever “seems right to them.”

Yet there are millions of stories that could be told by believers in the midst of the mess who are living faithful lives. And their faithful lives represent Christ to the “foreigners” who don’t know the Living God. Their righteous lives propel forward the story of God’s great plan of redemption. I guarantee Boaz had no idea that his faithful acts of kindness would one day result in the birth of the Messiah. Likewise we can be sure that we have no idea the Kingdom outcomes of our lives of faithfulness and acts of kindness in the midst of our raging culture.

God acts on behalf of those who long for Him. He just does. It is our faith that God is who He says He is and will do what He said He would do that pleases God and moves Him. We must cling with white-knuckled strength to the truth that God always acts and will use our simple faith-filled acts to bring His kingdom here on earth no matter what the state of the world looks like. And we must pray. Oh, brothers and sisters, we must pray because our prayers WORK. Why? Because as it is written:

What no eye has seen, no ear has heard,

and no human heart has conceived—

God has prepared these things for those who love him.

Just as Boaz is one life in the midst of great darkness, your life is one life, and my life is one life that often feels meaningless in the midst of darkness. It’s not our job to figure out how and why, but to believe that God is using our lives to bring forth a great light. The light of Christ.