The Book of Ruth in the Bible records the life of Ruth who left her own country  (Moab) and came to Jerusalem. Ruth faced difficulties one after another. She could have easily given up. As a widowed young woman, she had a choice to choose an easier path and think only about her life; or to trust in the “God of  Israel” and come to Jerusalem along with her ailing mother-in-law. In the natural, the first path looked brighter as, she can just consider about her own life. But the act of kindness that she did by choosing the difficult path, cannot be done without sacrifice and complete trust in God (Ruth 1:16,17). 

When they reached Jerusalem, God saw her heart and led her to the right farm. She could have easily stopped by at any other neighboring fields. But God being God, never failed to reward her sacrifice and her act of kindness. Therefore, God’s Hand was with her and guided her to the field of Boaz, who later married her (Ruth 4). Later she bore a child, “Obed”, who is the grandfather of King David. And the Messiah was born in her lineage. 

Despite all the negativity, as she trusted in the God of Israel and took shelter under the shadow of His wings, she was blessed beyond her expectations. Indeed, she was richly blessed to be in the lineage of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5). 

Many times, when we do not reap the harvest of our labor immediately and face difficulties in life, we tend to question God’s faithfulness. Rather than questioning Him, we need to learn to trust in Him and do what he wants us to do joyfully. When we do that, God will lead us in the right direction – to the right job, to the right people, to the right connections, to the right place etc., in order to richly reward us. It might look ridiculous initially, for us and to the people around us, as there might not be any hope for us to be rewarded. However, as we take shelter in Him and His Word, and keep moving on overcoming all the bywords, our reward that God has already prepared for us will manifest. We will be richly rewarded and even those who ridiculed/mocked at us will realize the Hand of God in our lives. 

"Tell the godly that all will be well for them. They will enjoy the rich reward they have earned!" (Isaiah 3:10, NLT)

God bless you!