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Ruth 3: Boaz Will Redeem Ruth
1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you?
2 "Now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maids you were? Behold, he winnows barley at the threshing floor tonight.
3 "Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
4 "It shall be when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies, and you shall go and uncover his feet and lie down; then he will tell you what you shall do."
5 She said to her, "All that you say I will do."
BOAZ SAID: 9 He said, "Who are you?" And she answered, "I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative."
10 Then he said, "May you be blessed of the LORD, my daughter. You have shown your last kindness to be better than the first by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.
11 "Now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you whatever you ask, for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of excellence.
12"Now it is true I am a close relative; YET, there is a relative closer than I.”
Boaz and Ruth is the best love story in the Bible, not because of the ‘romance’ quotient in it but because their relationship oozes with God. Amen. Those of you who are confused, anxious and bit troubled about your life partner, I guess you have great lessons from the book of Ruth.
Naomi sends Ruth in the night to go to Boaz and asked her to lie at his feet, Ruth replied obediently "All that you say I will do." She never asked, ‘how can I be sure he is the guy’, ‘this plan seems weird’( as a matter of fact it is) well, she just unconditionally obeyed the woman from whom she heard about Jehovah God. Amen. Listen, when the motive of your action is obedience and fulfilling the will of God, then God will never allow you to go in the wrong direction, but if you have already decided to go your way then the result is chaos.
Boaz was shocked to see Ruth inside his bed room; however, his actions and words are priceless, he does not take advantage of the situation, he gently told her “ Yes, I am your close relative and I have rights to redeem you, YET, there is another man who is closer than me, so I need to check with him before I go ahead in this matter. Isn’t he a gem of a man? Boaz was middle aged, while Ruth though a widow was young, he knew her good character and hard work, YET instead of grabbing her to be his wife, he patiently waits for God to clear the way. Wow this is amazing! I can hear Boaz telling Ruth, ‘ well let’s do it the right way, according to the custom and rules of this society.’ Psalm 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.”
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS IN OUR LIFE: We cannot do whatever seems right in our eyes, are you listening? Rules have to be followed, the Bible says: Deuteronomy 12:8 "You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.” "Every way of man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts." (Proverbs 21:2).
Driving the car with a license, using the computer with software purchased rather than pirated software, doing business with proper Government permit, constructing houses or churches with proper government approvals are all essential factors to be followed by every Christian. Do it right, dont skip rules, are you listening?
B) Let me give you another example from the Bible
King SAUL: 1 Samuel 13:5 Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore in abundance; and they came up and camped in Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were hard-pressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits.
7 Also some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
8 Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him.
9 So Saul said, "Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering.
10 As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him.
Listen to me friends , Prophet Samuel had clearly said:
in 1 Samuel 10:8: “Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”:
Well look at the circumstances that king Saul was facing, not small at all:
• Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and people like the sand which is on the seashore
• people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits.
• some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, (he was still in Gilgal)and all the people followed him trembling.
• he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel
• people were scattering from him.
All the above that happened around Saul dented and smashed his faith, he waited for seven days BUT did not have patience to wait until the end of the day and he dared to disobey God and His Word, he offered the burnt offering himself, though he was neither priest nor prophet; yet, as a king, he thought he can do anything, a piece of presumption which king Uzziah paid dearly for, 2 Chronicles 26:19: “But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense.”
God was very angry with Saul, judgment was passed :
13 Samuel said to Saul, "You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
14 "But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you."
Practical applications in our life:
1) When we receive a word from the Lord, we need to wait till the end, I would add to this and say, ‘wait even after that’ until we get a sure assurance from the Lord. Don’t jump to conclusions, let the Word of God be you only reference and nothing else.
2) Whatever we do, we need to do it the right way and God’s way, then we would have 100 % success.
My personal testimony:
We run a Free School, Abide School for the poor in Hyderabad, we were pressurized to do many hanky-panky things by people so that we could get ‘recognition and approval’ from the Government; however, we stood firm and strong in this. We submitted nothing but the original copies of educational certificates of our teachers and all other related documents were rooted in utmost integrity, God honored our faith and blessed us with ALL the necessary approvals for the next 10 years. Glory to Jesus!
