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    A Woman of Love
    A Woman of Love
    A Woman of Love
    Ebook141 pages2 hours

    A Woman of Love

    By Dee Brestin

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    About this ebook

    Learn what it takes to be a A Woman of Love in this eight lesson study. Through the inspiring story of Ruth and Naomi, women will be taught how to love each other, develop true and lasting intimacy and trust, and be loved in return.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDavid C Cook
    Release dateDec 10, 2012
    ISBN9781434704092
    A Woman of Love
    Author

    Dee Brestin

    Dee Brestin (www.deebrestin.com) is a writer, speaker, and teacher. Her book The Friendships of Women has sold over a million copies and was recently released in a 20th Anniversary Edition. Falling in Love with Jesus has sold over 400,000 copies. Dee has written twenty Bible studies, the first of which, Proverbs and Parables, has been in print for over thirty years. She is a frequent guest on Moody Radio (Mid-day Connection) and Focus on the Family; she also speaks to many large women’s conferences yearly. A graduate of Northwestern University, Dee has studied with Covenant Seminary. She is the mother of five grown children and lives in Wisconsin and Missouri.

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      A Woman of Love - Dee Brestin

      together.

      One

      Love in a Time of Famine

      A

      particular Thanksgiving stands out in my memory. Early that morning my husband and I stood on our back porch in our terrycloth robes, marveling as the rising sun turned the Nebraska sky crimson and purple. Our arms wrapped around one another’s waists, we faced the rising sun and spontaneously sang For the Beauty of the Earth. Material blessings abounded: a warm home with a fire flickering in the fireplace; turkey, dressing, and fragrant pumpkin pie. My parents and our three adult children had come home, making our circle complete. We cradled our newborn grandson Simeon: pink, perfect, and plump with possibility.

      The book of Ruth reminds me of Thanksgiving: ripe with images of the land and the harvest, images of symbolic significance. There is a parallel between the fruitfulness of the land and the fruitfulness of the people of Bethlehem. The pictures are reminiscent of the parables Jesus told: stories of a sower and four kinds of soils, of the vine and the branches, of seeds growing secretly, and of planters and reapers. Likewise, the psalmist compares the godly to a tree planted by rivers of water and the ungodly to the chaff the wind blows away (Ps. 1). Intriguingly, the climax of the book of Ruth occurs at the threshing floor, where the grain was lifted with pitchforks and thrown to the night wind so the chaff could be blown away. Ruth, steadfast and true, is like pure and wholesome grain. She is a woman of love and has so much to teach us. She did not—on her own—become a woman who has gone down in history, and neither can we. But we can become women who love well, and God has given us a book to show us how. This introductory week will help you overview and gain important background information for the rich little book of Ruth.

      Prepare Your Heart to Hear

      Prepare your heart by singing hymns. You’ll find several from which to choose in the Hymns Index.

      Memory Work

      Begin in earnest your memory work. Over the next three weeks you will memorize the most famous passage in the book of Ruth. You’ll do it in the King James Version because that passage in that version has become as well known as famous poetry. Begin this week with the opening thought of Ruth 1:16–17:

      And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go.

      Spend five minutes memorizing today. Often doing a word at a time will help to cement it in your mind. For example,

      Ruth

      Ruth 1

      Ruth 1:16–17

      Ruth 1:16–17 Intreat

      Ruth 1:16–17 Intreat me

      and so forth.

      WARMUP

      One of the repeated images in the book of Ruth is that of women filling up one another’s empty arms. They came to one another offering a sympathizing tear, wise counsel, words of affirmation, or fervent prayers. Sometimes Ruth literally filled Naomi’s empty arms with grain and finally, a grandbaby! How have women’s friendships, especially those in small group studies, specifically ministered to you, filling your empty places? What do you hope to see happen in this group?

      DAY 1

      A Survey of the Land

      It’s easy to love people when things are going well: when it’s summertime and the fruit is on the vine, when your health is good, when your friends are sweet and responsive to you, loving you well.

      It’s not so easy when times are hard: when it’s winter and the cold winds blow, when your health is poor, when your friends don’t seem to understand or care, when they fail you just when you need them the most. It certainly is winter as the book of Ruth opens. Naomi, the central character in the book of Ruth, has sometimes been called a female Job. She loses everything—her home, her land, her husband, her sons, her dreams. In fact, the book opens with a famine in the land, a phrase laden with symbolism. But watch, as the book progresses, how the land changes, as do the hearts of God’s people as they open to His love and begin, in turn, to love one another.

      1. Read the introductory material on the previous pages. Highlight or write down anything you wish to remember.

      2. Read through the short book of Ruth. (There are only four chapters.) In each chapter, look for any images of the land and highlight them or write symbol in your margin. Also, write a summary paragraph describing what happened in the chapter.

      A. Ruth 1

      B. Ruth 2

      C. Ruth 3

      D. Ruth 4

      DAY 2

      Everyone Did As He Saw Fit

      In order to understand the book of Ruth, we need to understand the dark days in which Ruth lived. Often God will allow famine in the lives of His children—not because He doesn’t love them, but because He does.

      3. What phrase opens the book of Ruth and tells you the time period?

      4. Now, turn back one page in your Bible and read the last verse of the book of Judges. How does it describe the people? How did they decide what was right and wrong?

      In the university town I live in, there is an ethics professor who is a missionary on campus. Godly, wise, and winsome, he helps his young students think about right and wrong. The first day of class he asks, How do you decide what is right and what is wrong?

      One after another they say, Whatever I think is right is right.

      The next day the professor comes to class, leans against his desk, and strokes his beard thoughtfully. He says, I’ve decided to change the way I grade. It’s not going to be according to the guidelines in the syllabus—not according to how well you do on tests and papers. Instead, it’s going to be according to what I see fit. What I think. Bribes would be good. I’d like bribes. I also like kids who drive cool cars. These are the things that will determine your grades.

      The students’ jaws drop, and the room buzzes. This isn’t fair! He can’t do this!

      But, the professor explains, it’s what I think. It’s what seems right to me. He’s smiling now, thinking, We’ll see how many of them are really secular relativists.

      What seems right in my eyes is how the people in the days of Judges decided right and wrong. God’s people were no longer abiding in the vine, no longer looking to Him for guidance, and no longer desiring to please Him. Each had turned to his own way. The longer they persisted living this way, the deeper their depravity became. By the close of the book of Judges, the historical stories are hard to read, and yet, they really happened, serving as a warning to us of the sin that lurks in our hearts and threatens to turn us into beasts if we do not respond to God in true repentance.

      5. What contrast to the thinking in the days of Judges do you find in Proverbs 3:5–6?

      In the days of the judges, the Israelites repeatedly rebelled against the Lord and fell under the power of an invading nation. Then God would hear their cries. In His mercy He would send a judge, a deliverer. The Israelites would be rescued, and a time of peace would follow. During that time of peace, they would again rebel against the Lord, and the cycle would repeat. This happens seven times in the book of Judges, and each time the people sink to deeper depths. In The Bible Reader’s Companion¹ Larry Richards outlines five steps in each cycle: sin, servitude, supplication, salvation, and silence.

      6. Trace this cycle in Judges 3:7–11.

      Sin:

      Servitude:

      Supplication:

      Salvation:

      Silence:

      7. Can you identify with the above cycle personally? Is there a particular temptation to which you repeatedly give in? A bad temper? Gluttony? Sexual immorality? If so, write down how you can see the above pattern in this area and ask God to penetrate this darkness in your life with His light.

      Spend a few minutes on your memory verse.

      DAY 3

      The Downward Cycle

      In the book of Judges, God’s people don’t sink into depravity all at once. True repentance is when we are broken before God and not just sorry about the consequences. Because the people in Judges were simply sorry for the consequences, when the consequences of their sin were relieved, they repeated their sin. Each time we refuse God’s light, a callus forms on our heart, and we have an increasingly difficult time hearing Him. Each time we repeat a sin, Satan’s chains grow tighter.

      8. Read Judges 3:12–30.

      A. Describe how the cycle repeats.

      B. Note whatever you can discover about the prosperity of Moab from the above story. (This will be significant when we turn to Ruth.)

      This rather strange story of the assassination of the fat king of Moab by a left-handed deliverer

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