God’s obligation comes from within himself

As the Ruth project continues, here is another quotation from the section on the righteousness of God:

God’s justice or God’s righteousness obligates him to redeem his people and reward their labors on behalf of his kingdom.  It’s because God is righteous that he must keep his covenant and, of course, that covenant is a covenant of grace with us.

So this obligation, then, does not come from outside, as if we had some intrinsic claim on God’s salvation or as if our works could somehow put God in debt to us.  Rather, God’s obligation comes from within himself, from his own determination to be trustworthy and to make good on his covenant pledge, no matter what.