Whose Are You?
Opening Prayer
Good God, I join my prayers with many others today to give You thanks for all You are and do.
Read Ruth 2:14-23
[14] At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. [15] As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. [16] Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.” [17] So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. [18] She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. [19] Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said. [20] “The LORD bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.” [21] Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.'” [22] Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.” [23] So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION
Reflect
What additional kindness did Boaz show to Ruth?Boaz noticed Ruth because she worked so hard without taking a rest and he asked who she was. Ruth asked, “I am not an Israelite. Why have you been so kind to notice me?” But Boaz commends her (this is not an issue of race) for she has been faithful and committed to her mother-in-law. He speaks of her as one defined by the covenant, taking refuge under the Lord’s wings, where she is now safe. This is emphasized in v. 14 as they eat bread together. Belonging to God is by faith, and this is a relational reality. Naomi ponders the plan for Boaz to take care of Ruth through a tradition called levirate marriage, whereby a childless widow was married to a male relative of her late husband who could give her a son. The son would be given the name of the first husband rather than that of his natural father. Could this be God’s providential plan to provide for Ruth? If so, it would be a blessing to Naomi, too, as we shall later see.
Apply
Write your name and over it: “I belong to the Lord.” Then, ask God to be the foundation of your life.
Closing prayer
Lord, Your care for me and all Your children is so amazing. I’m so glad I belong to You.
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