Working and Waiting
Opening Prayer
I praise You, God, that You meet all of my needs even before I make them known to You.
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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
For whom do you consider yourself to have some responsibility? Ask God to help you meet their needs.Boaz’s generosity towards Ruth increases. When Naomi hears exactly whose fields Ruth has been gleaning in, she remembers straightaway about her family relationship with him. It’s reasonable to assume that as Boaz knows who Ruth is (2:11), he has also been reminded of this relationship. Boaz may have been attracted to her from the outset, or he may just be generous by nature and has been touched by Ruth’s story. We don’t know; it could be any or all of these reasons.
One could suspect that Naomi is immediately thinking of the possibilities of the situation. It’s not exactly clear whether her blessing is to the Lord or Boaz (20), but her recognition of who Boaz is, and in particular the familial responsibility implied in her use of the phrase “guardian-redeemer,” gives her a new sense of hope after all the sadness of the past. Ruth is not yet aware of the meaning behind Naomi’s words, but she understands the security to be found in continuing to work in Boaz’s fields. However, their relative positions remain unresolved; Ruth gleans and lives with Naomi until the end of the harvest.
Apply
Do you ever rush in to fix a problem? Ask God for the willingness to wait for the right time to act in his name.
Closing prayer
Thank You, Lord, for Your continued care of me and my loved ones in every situation.
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