GOD never abandons his people-even when we fail to trust him. He delivers us from evil.

Joshua is the story of the promised land. The Lord promised Abraham the land and now -many years later-he keeps his promise. The book of Joshua makes it clear that the conquest is the work of God. No human plan or might could have allowed Israel the victory. These stories remind us that our strength is in God alone.

Judges tells the story of what happens when God's people are blessed. Often (as Moses warned them), Israel forgets who gave them the land. They go after other gods-the defeated idols of the countries they had conquered. Thus, there is a cycle to the stories in Judges. God's people follow idols. God sends a nation to punish them. They turn back to the Lord, and God raises up a military deliverer (called a judge) to set Israel free. Soon, they again forget their allegiance is to the Lord alone, and they go back to idols. And the cycle continues. The good news in this discouraging cycle of disobedience is that the Lord does not abandon his people. When we return, he saves.

Ruth tells a smaller story. While Joshua and Judges speak of rulers and nations, Ruth tells of an Israelite woman, Naomi, and her Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth, who is faithful to Naomi. She follows her back to Israel. She meets a distant relative who is also loyal to God and to his obligations to his relatives. Out of their faithfulness, Naomi's fortunes are restored. And out of this small story of the faithfulness of little people comes the great King David. God is the hero of the story of Ruth, even though his name is rarely mentioned. The Lord works through the lives of those the world considers little people to bless the entire world.