Ruth 3

1 One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for?
2 Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours?
Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing-floor.
3 Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing-floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.
4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do."
5 "I will do whatever you say," Ruth answered.

Trying and Waiting
This chapter has two BOOKENDS in the first and last verse.
Two different qualities in these two women that God uses to advance his purposes for our lives. Two qualities of FAITH.

• first verse: should I not try to find a home for you?

• last verse: wait until you find out what happens...v18

In between... the obedient Ruth.

Naomi...
Naomi shows the value in having a 'spiritual director' - a spiritual parent. Naomi (Ruth's mother in law) is older and wiser... she represents someone who discerns when (and how) to try something, and when to wait.

Ruth for her part is willing to trust and submit to the counsel of another. How much anxiety and needless striving we could save ourselves in our lives if we could but learn from this story. But more, Naomi's sense of things, coupled with Ruth's obedience and patience, opened up incredible change in their lives.

• 1st verse: should I not try to find a home for you?

Naomi reads the signs... earlier
Ch 2:3 As it turned out, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz
All Christians can point to incredible 'coincidences'. God works all things together for good and is sovereign. What 'as it turned out' things can you recollect?

Ch 3: 2 Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours
Boaz is a well off relative, and thus has a (cultural) responsibility to Naomi. Naomi was in effect looking to such a relative to purchase her deceased husband's land and thus keep it in the family, along with that Naomi ties the land to care of and marriage to Ruth.

Naomi gives Ruth detailed instructions about approaching Boaz - perhaps because Ruth is a foreigner and needs to understand the customs. But I like her additional 'practical' wisdom -

"don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking" !! v3
How wise of Naomi... sometimes timing is everything! All important intentional interactions need good timing.

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It seems he turned out to be in "good spirits"! No doubt mellowed by wine and satisfied by food. The Bible is a lot less "prudy" than many a churchgoer! Drunk he was not however, (see his alert and attentive response in the night)

Ruth...
What can we learn about Ruth's character in all this?
"I will do what ever you say" v5
"So she went down to the threshing-floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do." v6

The author is concerned to show her as teachable and submissive to the loving counsel of Naomi, She was full of faith to trust God to work things out... But obedient to do not simply passive!

To those not yet married...
Marriage is the most important of all human relationships. Marriage somes about in a miriad of ways sometimes quite spontaneously. Some cultures have 'arranged marriages' by parents, most would never prescribe such a practivce. Having said that however, is it not prudent to seek the counsel of spiritual parents? (perhaps literal parents) They may not be able to see important things.

Such detailed instructions (as Naomi gave to Ruth) is probably the exception, but proverbs tells us to seek wisdom above all else... it involves a teachable submission in your spirit... and a measure of obedience. Would to God we all had Naomi's we were close to.

Boaz was an honorable man... but he was much older than Ruth indeed a generation above her.

v10 You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.
Love can flourish in unlikely places. Large age differences need not necessarily inhibit it. God is the God of the unusual!! Look around... are you missing something - blinkered by convention?
"I'm too young, I'm too old, they're too old, too young"?

Well Ruth's approach to Boaz went well, but there was a glitch... there was someone who had prior claim. Boaz was unable to do anything... he had to trust God also.

• last verse: wait until you find out what happens...v18

Waiting upon the Lord... is by definition HARD... stretching. Often God is silent. Faith is being grown. God is likely working many complex things out, as in this case.

IN CONCLUSION:
"Naomis" don't call "Ruths" - Ruths come under the covering of Naomi's and submit to them in the Lord. This is relational, respectful and a safeguard against 'control' or power trips.

Are we submissive to counsel and spiritual direction?
Who would you turn to for wisdom?
Are there signs for you to "try"?

Perhaps God is waiting for your "action"?

James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself,
if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

October 29/2009