Lady in Waiting

Chapter 1
Lady of Reckless Abandonment
I. Read Ruth Chapter 1.
1. What is happening in these two women’s lives? _____________________________________
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2. How do the women feel? ________________________________________________
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3. How do they respond to this time of crisis in their lives? _______________________________
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4. What are their choices? ________________________________________________
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Their plans? ______________________________________________________
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Their hopes? ______________________________________________________
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5. What are their dreams for the future? ________________________________________
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6. How do they respond to each other? __________________________________________
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7. What do you identify with? _______________________________________________
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8. How can Ruth remain strong during such hardship? __________________________________
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II. “Ruth moved from a false religion into the only true and eternal relationship. Too many women have been involved
in a form of religious worship, but have never had a vital, growing relationship with Jesus.”

1. What is the difference between religion and a relationship? ______________________________

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2. Read Isaiah 29:13 (NIV). Does this verse describe your religious experience? Why or why not? __________
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3. Read John 3:16. How can one enter into a personal relationship with God? ______________________
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4. Describe how you entered into a personal relationship with the Lord.__________________________
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5. Which would make hard circumstances easier to live with: a religion of works or a relationship with a God who cares
and helps? Why? ___________________________________________________
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6. How do you know from chapter 1 of the Book of Ruth that Ruth’s response to God was personal? What verses
support your answer? __________________________________________________
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“No one, not even the man you marry one day, can make you happy --- only Jesus can.”
III. “Too many Christian women think that the inner longings of their hearts relate only to love, marriage, and
motherhood or career.”
1. What do you think about this statement? ________________________________________
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2. Do women long for something constant, something that will satisfy deep heart longings? ________________
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Why? __________________________________________________________
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What are some examples? ________________________________________________
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3. Discuss how each of the following can or cannot satisfy a woman’s deepest needs.
Possessions: _______________________________________________________
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Positions: ________________________________________________________
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People: _________________________________________________________
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4. Have you assumed that your ultimate fulfillment would be found in things? A position? A relationship? Marriage?
Children? Explain. ___________________________________________________
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5. Why can these never completely satisfy you? _____________________________________
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“You were not created to complete another, but to complement. Completion is Jesus’ responsibility and complementing is
a woman’s privilege. A woman not complete in Jesus will be a drain on her husband. Such a woman will expect her
husband to fill the gap that only Jesus can fill.”
IV. Read Luke 7:36-50.
As explained in the book Lady in Waiting, the family of a young woman of marriageable age would give her an alabaster
box filled with precious ointment as part of her dowry. The size of the box and the value of the ointment related to
her family’s wealth. When a young man came to ask for her in marriage, she would take the box and break it as his
feet to show him honor.
1. Describe the past of the woman who broke the alabaster box in Luke 7. ________________________
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2. What was her situation in the present? ________________________________________
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3. Explain her hope for the future. ____________________________________________
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4. What was she sacrificing? _______________________________________________
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5. What was her reward? _________________________________________________
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6. Is there something your heart clings to that is too valuable to give to Jesus? What? ________________
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7. Are you afraid to be without something or someone? What or who is it, and why? ___________________
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“Think about this: Could this ‘holding on’ to something possibly be keeping you from having open hands to receive
something better from the Lord?”

The woman in Luke 7 wisely broke her alabaster box in the presence of the only One who can make a
woman’s dreams come true. What is in your alabaster box? Take your box, with your body, soul, and dreams, and
entrust them to Jesus. Write here your prayer of release to His Lordship. _____________________
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Mary, the mother of Jesus, said, “I belong to the Lord, body and soul… let it happen as you say…” (Luke 1:38,
Phillips)

V. Right now, choose to put mediocrity behind you. Determine to pursue Jesus with everything in you – heart, mind,
will, and emotions. Whether you are single or married now is the perfect time to establish a radical relationship
with Jesus and to remove any “tokenism” from your Christian walk.
1. Is there anything holding you back from taking this step? _______________________________
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2. What mediocrity is in your life that you can get rid of? _______________________________
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3. Is what you are hanging on to taking your life where you want it to go? Explain.___________________
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4. What can you do to make God more real in your life right now? ____________________________
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5. How will you do this? List at least three practical steps you can take. ________________________
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“It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times
and return to Biblical ways.” --- A.W. Tozer
(A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: Christian Publishing, Inc., 1982, p.29)

Write your prayer of commitment. ________________________________________________

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“Incompleteness is not the result of being single, but of not being full of Jesus.”

Prayer
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for always being there for me. Lord, I want to enter into a deeper relationship with you. I know that You
are the One who paid the price for this relationship, who guaranteed it by dying on the cross for me. Yet, I have continued to
sin. Now, I repent all of my wrongdoing. Forgive me. Make me a clean vessel, ready to receive all that You have for me.
Fill my cup and run it overflowing. You are my Lord, My Savior – and my best friend. I can depend on You totally to meet all
my needs. I belong to You. Today, I come to You in totality.
In Your name, Lord Jesus.
Amen.