I met a woman last week who had just arrived in our country from Mexico with her four children. She had made her way up to Austin and was staying at a local immigration shelter, which is how we got connected. Our church partners with this shelter to help provide holistic care to men and women now needing jobs, homes and basic living necessities. But as I heard her story, I couldn’t help but weep.

Her story is like many women who have made the brave and difficult journey to come to America. It’s filled with loss, starvation, trauma, even the death of one of her sons. I wish I could tell you more, but it’s not my story to tell. But I share this with you because we need to understand that women like her are now in need of great healing and recovery, and she has to find her path to wholeness again while also navigating the terrain of a new country. The challenges, you can imagine, are indeed great.

Nothing feels familiar. She and many like her are far from their families, from comfort, from help. It’s not easy being an immigrant in this country, and that’s without the added accusations, threats and rejections from Americans who share no love or empathy for their fellow neighbor.

The irony, I think, to much of the debate surrounding immigration in our country right now is whether immigrants will add or detract to this false narrative of “making America great.” When in reality, we should be seeing these men and women as possible messengers from God. Over and over in Scripture, we see God use foreigners, immigrants and refugees to serve as his vehicle for Kingdom advancement, and this truth is seen all across the book of Ruth.

A Moabite Woman in God’s Kingdom

For the immigrant in our country today, I want you to know this truth: Even if the world says you are weak, that you are a nobody, God says you are a somebody. God says you are His child. You are His. You belong to Him. And, as His child, He can and will use you for great things in His kingdom, if you let Him.

Perhaps you did not know this, but the Book of Ruth has much to say about the immigrants, and specifically an immigrant woman. One of the most remarkable things about this book is that it shows how the salvation of an entire country comes through a non-native woman! God uses Ruth, a Moabite, to preserve Israel’s royal line and to be the great grandmother of King David, one of the nation’s great kings. That is astounding!

In this ancient, traditional, patriarchal society, you would think that Ruth has two strikes against her: she is a young woman and she is a foreigner. The story amplifies this issue by highlighting the fact that Ruth is Moabite seven times. Moab itself is also mentioned seven times. Thus, in total, Ruth’s place of origin is mentioned 14 times. To make matters worse, Israel already has a contentious relationship with Moab. No one would expect that the heroine of an Israelite story would be a Moabite woman.

You see, for most of the Old Testament, there were many negative dispositions toward the Moabites. For starters, in Genesis 19, the Moabites trace their origin to the incestuous relationship between Lot and his own daughter. Then, in Numbers 22, the Moabites resisted Israel from passing through their territory when they came from Egypt. Shortly after, in Numbers 25, Moabite women seduced Israelites and led them to destruction. Finally, in Judges 3, the king of Moab oppressed neighboring Israelites. All this to say, Moab and Israel were anything but tight. There was deep suspicion and animosity between these two countries.

An Unlikely Hero

Ruth, a Moabite woman, is undoubtedly an unexpected and unlikely hero in an Israelite story. One would expect the famous King David’s background to be of pure Israelite ethnicity and of great wealth. If we were ancient Israelites, we would scoff at the notion that the royal line would come through a female foreigner. There’s no way that we would expect King David’s great grandmother to be of poor Moabite blood, and yet she is.

So, why does God choose Ruth? Why does He choose a poor foreigner to be the great grandmother of King David? Why does He choose a lowly woman to play a big role in Israel’s history and to be its unlikely hero?

Here’s why: God uses Ruth to teach us that He uses the weak, the humble and the lowly to accomplish great things in His kingdom.

And if He can use her, He can use you as well. Listen, sister: whether you are native to this country or a foreigner, whether you are rich or poor, whether you are married or single, whether you have a whole community, or you are alone, your value is not found in what the world says about you. Your worth is not determined by your citizenship, your ability to speak English, your current job or the kind of apartment you live in. Your importance is not found in how much money you have, what you look like or the people you hang out with.

For many of us, we live under that crushing burden. For many of us, we feel like failures because our lives are not “perfect” according to the world’s standards. Do you feel the weight?

God Sees You

For my immigrant brother and sister, here is God’s promise for you: God will not overlook you just because you are a foreigner. He will not overlook you because you are lowly in your new country’s eyes. He will not dismiss you because you are a woman, an immigrant, a single momma or because you are poor. No, God reaches down to us, chooses us, adopts us and calls us His children simply because that’s the kind of God He is.

We can never be a hero on our own, but God swoops in, brings us to Himself and makes us an unlikely hero in His story.

You know what else is glorious? The world can never take this adoption away. Psalm 118:6 tells us, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” God is for you. God is with you. God will protect you. God will use you mightily.

One of the most remarkable things about the Book of Ruth is that it shows how the salvation of an entire country comes through an immigrant woman Click To Tweet