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Good Monday morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
As you head out into your week today, I wonder how you would describe your family relationships? Your immediate family… spouse, children, parents, and siblings. And your extended family, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces & nephews etc. Are you part of a close knit, or scattered family? Who among them, can you count on when you need help?
In our Scripture reading today, let’s open God’s Word to Ruth chapter 2. Widow Naomi has returned home to Bethlehem from Moab, where she and her family had gone more than 10 years before, to escape a famine. While away, her husband and both married sons had died. One of her daughters-in-law Ruth, a young Moabite widow, has returned with Naomi to help care for her.
As chapter 2 opens, we can assume Naomi & Ruth have only been back in Bethlehem a few days. They’ve probably worked hard at finding a place to live. Naomi has probably reconnected with at least a few of the people who knew her years ago. Some of them have perhaps provided Naomi and Ruth with a meal or two, but these two widows must quickly start establishing a new normal life. Food and shelter would be essential.
In God’s wisdom, they had come back to Bethlehem just as the barley harvest was beginning. In those days, of course, harvesting was done by hand, no tractors, combines, big trucks to haul away the grain to storage or market. Often harvesters where hired by the day or the field. In Israel, one of the guidelines God had laid down for His people was that harvesters would not harvest every stalk of grain, but they would leave some along the edges of each field for the poor people to harvest. (Lev. 19:9,10)
Naomi must have explained this to Ruth and she understands part of why she had come back with Naomi is to work, doing whatever she can, to provide for the two of them. So “Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, ‘Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor’…so she went out and began to glean in the fields behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimilech.” (Ruth 2:2,3)
As we see in verse 1, Boaz was a man of standing in Bethlehem and he was in the extended family of Naomi’s deceased husband. Another guideline God had given His people Israel, was that family should take care of each other in hard times, especially widows or orphans. As you read through Chapter 2 of Ruth today, look at how God was at work in the small details, with His eye on these two widows Naomi and Ruth. I hope it’s an encouragement to you!
Listen to this powerful truth from Psalm 33:18-22. While it had not been written yet in the days of Naomi & Ruth, this is how God’s people expected God to keep His eye on His people:
“The eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name. May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in You.”
Do you see this is how Naomi and Ruth were living? Do you see what God was doing for them? Is this the confident attitude of your heart and mind today, whatever your circumstances?
You’ll notice the foreman in Boaz’ field already knew who Ruth was. I presume this is because she would have asked permission to ‘glean’ in that field before she started. Do you see Boaz’ kindness to Ruth and his assurance of her safety in vs. 8,9? Her question was a fair one, for she was a foreigner. “Why have I found such favor in your eyes, that you notice me – a foreigner?” (Ruth 2:10)
My friends, all of us can say that to God can’t we? Why has He shown you and me such favor? We are enemies of God (Col. 1:21) for we as a human race, and each of us individually, have turned away from God. We have tried to take control of our lives, we are sinful people. (Rom. 3:23) But God’s Word shows us, from Genesis to Revelation, that God is a Holy God of great love, and He longs for EVERY person He has created to turn away from our rebellion and respond to His love by loving Him in return and trusting Jesus to save us from our sin. (2 Peter 3:9) He longs to adopt us into His family (Romans 8:14-17), and place His Holy Spirit to live in us, guiding us to be a God honoring people, enjoying His gracious hand of blessing upon us! This is our story my friends, you and me… all of us! May I urge you stop right now, put your finger on verse 10 and say to God, “That’s me, God, and I thank you with all my heart, for your love for me!”
Look at the power of verse 11 my friends. We each have a reputation don’t we? Ruth had only been in Bethlehem a few days, but already her story had spread: “I have been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband – how you left your father and mother and homeland and have come to live with a people you did not know before.”
May I ask a fair but personal question? What do people say about you and me my friends? What reputations do we have out there in the ‘gossip’ world? None of us knows everything that has been said about us, and we can’t control it, can we? All we can do is LIVE a life that earns a good, honorable reputation, so when false things are rumored about us, the truth of how we have lived stands unblemished.
Look at the blessing Boaz pronounces over Ruth the Moabite widow: “May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” (Ruth 2:12) Now friends, don’t let the word “wings” confuse you. Almighty God is Spirit, (John 4:24) but often we speak of His hands, or eyes, or head, or arms, or feet, or in this case ‘wings’. These are words that help us express God’s actions or attributes. In this case Boaz is speaking of God’s protection of Ruth, as a mother hen might spread her wings over her chicks in a dangerous moment. When is the last time you spoke a blessing over someone my friends? Oh that we would have such a close and honorable relationship with God that words like these would flow from our mouths to encourage others!
I’m going to suggest you read the rest of the story describing this day in Ruth’s life, through to verse 19 when she arrived back to Naomi in the evening. As you read, remember this is Ruth’s first full day experiencing her new life as a foreign widow in Bethlehem. This was the life she had signed up for… hard labor to provide for two widows. But look closely to see how those verses I gave you from Psalm 33 are Ruth’s experience! Can you imagine the evening of thanksgiving she and Naomi had that night, as they ate the bread made from the grain Ruth had gathered and ground, and Ruth told the story of her remarkable day?
Let’s sit with them… as you read it in Ruth chapter 2, imagine Ruth retelling it to Naomi. Can you see old Naomi shaking her head in amazement? See the big smile on both their faces? Perhaps tears in their eyes as they consider the wonder of God’s love for them, and His attention to the details of their needs? Don’t you imagine they sang a worship song or two, and prayed in great thanksgiving to Almighty God, who had brought them safely back from Moab to Bethlehem, and now had provided in such amazing ways for their needs.
I’d suggest we do the same… right where you are. Worship. Thank God for how HE has been watching over you, how He has provided for you and worked in the details of your life, my friends. Here’s a song which may help you. Paul Wilbur is an anointed Messianic worship leader. I find him really refreshing to my heart:
Oh God, we praise You for Your majesty and the truth of Psalm 33 in our lives!
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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