Boaz Steps Up

Boaz has competition and he knows it.  “It’s true.  I am a kinsman-redeemer.  But there’s a guy who has first dibs.  Stay here overnight.  In the morning, if he wants to step up and redeem, fine – let him redeem you.  But if he isn’t willing, you can be sure that as the Lord lives and the sun gets up in the morning, I am your man.” 

One way or another, Naomi’s days of loss and sadness are coming to an end. 

Ruth spends the night with Boaz at the threshing floor, and she gets up before anyone will recognize her.  Even though he probably doesn’t need to, Boaz says it, “Don’t let it get out that a woman has spent the night at the threshing floor.” People would talk.  Fill in the blanks.  Draw their own conclusions.  You know the drill. 

How Ruth does what happens next is beyond me.  Before she leaves, Boaz loads Ruth up with more than a bushel of barley.  Do the math.  That would be between 27 and 45 kilos (between 60 & 100 pounds) of grain.  Ruth is one sturdy woman.  It wouldn’t look good at that hour of the morning for Boaz to be carrying Ruth’s books home from school, so Boaz goes back to town.  And Ruth carries her load of barley.  

Remember: The Sovereign Lord rewards his courageous faithful ones with a guaranteed hope. 

Ruth comes home, and Naomi has to know, “So, how did it go, my daughter?” 

Ruth tells Naomi everything.  She shows her the barley and adds, “He told me, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”  They had to have a chuckle over that one. 

Naomi takes one look at the barley and tells Ruth, “Just sit back and wait, my daughter, because Boaz isn’t going to rest today until he settles this.” 

Though the details are not clear yet, Naomi knows her future is secure.  And like them, we don’t have all the details.  But, we have the same confidence about our own future. 

We have seen a transformation begin in Naomi.  Naomi is no longer a bitter widow, giving up responsibility for her daughters-in-law.  Naomi is still a widow, but she has become optimistic enough to assume responsibility for Ruth's well-being.  Naomi is no longer the woman who came back empty-handed.  She is the woman whose daughter-in-law brings her abundance.  Have you ever been through a time when you couldn’t see a good outcome, but looking back you see the good in it?  Maybe you’re still “in the weeds.”

We will experience real pain, real loss in our lifetime.  Bad things are certain to happen.  But where there has been bitterness and emptiness, we see can healing and wholeness in this life, just as we have seen with Naomi, and in the next life peace will be fulfilled. 

For one thing, we don’t go through it alone.  The Spirit of God is present with and in us, and is in fact our guarantee that it will all make sense one day.    

"Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of his glory."  (Ephesians 1:13, 14)

This guarantee does not lie dormant, but God finishes what he starts. Naomi is still a widow, but she's changing on the inside.  

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.  (Philippians 1:6)

The Spirit of God works continually in a specific direction: to bring about the wholeness that both God and you desire. 

Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (Romans 8:29)

Like Naomi, our redemption is assured.  It is still ahead for her at this moment in the story, as it is for us right now.  But we have a kinsman-redeemer in Jesus Christ, under whose wing we have sought refuge, who will ensure that, whatever may happen, we are promised an inheritance that is as secure, certain and reliable as God himself. 

We don’t have all the details.  And we won’t.  But in Christ we can have the same confidence about our future that Naomi has about her own.  

Naomi says to Ruth, “Just sit back and wait, my daughter, because Boaz isn’t going to rest today until he settles this.” 

The Sovereign Lord rewards his courageous faithful ones with a guaranteed hope.