A Hopeful Request
A Hopeful Request
"Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet. And he said, “Who are you?”
So she answered, “I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.” (Ruth 3:8-9)
Whenever you think about moving forward into your future, it is so important to know that the Lord has already gone before you and is orchestrating His divinely orchestrated plan and purpose for our lives. When God's people are involved, things do not just happen coincidentally or by happenstance but rather God's hand is always guiding the process and your progress.
Therefore, it is important for us to stay in alignment with God through obedience and to position ourselves for every good work that He has prepared for us.
At this point in the redemptive story of Ruth, we see that it is Naomi who is looking out for the well being of her daughter and seeking "security for [her], that it might be well with [her]. She makes a request for Ruth to go to Boaz in the evening after he has finished winnowing the barley and tells Ruth what to do. She tells her to lay down by his feet and let her marriage desire be made known to him. Then after hearing her heart, he will tell her what to do after that (since both Boaz and Naomi are both familiar with the laws of the kinsman redeemer (Go'el).
Here are the parameters of the law of the kinsman redeemer:
As we focus in on Deuteronomy 25:5, we see that it directly applies to this situation: “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies [Mahlon] and has no son, the widow [Ruth] of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother [Boaz] shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty [Law of Go’el] of a husband’s brother to her.”
So as Ruth leaves Naomi, her primary role was to trust God and His plan and to be ready to do her part in full obedience. And that is exactly what Ruth says and does, as she responds saying, "All that you say to me I will do" (Ruth 3:5).
When God told Noah to build an ark...he was to build it for a specific purpose with God's specific design. When the time came for him to do so, we read, "Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did" (Gen. 6:22).
Or what about Mary...when she was told that the future Messiah and Child of promise would be born to her. Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
Is this the same perspective and objective that you have as you go into each day of your life? Are you ready ahead of time to give God your "YES" when He tells you to do something?
O how different things would be in our world if we all had this same readiness to obey all that the Lord tells us to do and that we were eager and willing to fulfill each task for God's glory and for the well being of others.
There are some interesting parallels of obedience in the first miracle of Jesus which also revolves around a marriage. He and His disciples were invited to a wedding in Cana. When the wine had run out, it was Mary (like Naomi) who came to Jesus and told Him of the problem and urged Him for a solution. Jesus made it clear that this was not the primary purpose for which He came, which was the hour of the cross, but He would display His power by being willing to transform the water into wine.
Jesus included the servants who were present to help carry out His miracle: "Jesus said to them, 'Fill the waterpots with water.' And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, 'Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.' And they took it" (John 2:7-8).
God loves to include each of us in the great works that He is accomplishing. We need to be willing vessels and who are willing to obey the Lord. God makes His requests to us but there are times when we also make our requests to Him.
Far too often, it can feel as if life is moving faster than we can process and sometimes things are thrown at us where we are being tested to make a judgment call about how we are going to act or react. This is why we need a pattern of good works and a well established godly character.
When Ruth showed up in the evening at the feet of Boaz, it certainly could give the appearance of an inappropriate situation. A young lady looking beautiful at the feet of a grown man who is resting alone in the field. However, these are two godly servants who both have honor and virtue as the character qualities of their lives. This privacy was actually to protect their integrity.
Ruth took a big step of faith and gently revealed that she was willing to come under the authority and covering of Boaz if he would be willing to take her as his wife, according to Israel's laws.
This hopeful request serves as a beautiful parallel of how the Church comes to the feet of the Lord to fully come under His wing to be a partaker of His inheritance. Similarly to Ruth, we too have been called to make ourselves ready and beautiful that we might be presented as a glorious bride as we are being sanctified, conformed, and united to Christ.
However, Unlike Ruth, we know that the Lord chose us before we ever chose Him and that He was willing to be our bridegroom and kinsman redeemer since He "demonstrated HIs own love toward us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
Solomom wanted to have an understanding heart to judge God's people righteously (1 Kings 3). Nehemiah made a request to be sent back to Judah to rebuild the temple and its wall (Neh. 2).
So with this greater understanding, what is your hopeful request today?
Whenever asking God for something, may we always seek to bless others more than ourselves!
Whether it is Ruth showing more kindness to Boaz afterward or Jesus making the best wine in toward the end of the wedding, the Lord is always saving the very best for last.
"Now it happened at midnight that the man was startled, and turned himself; and there, a woman was lying at his feet. And he said, “Who are you?”
So she answered, “I am Ruth, your maidservant. Take your maidservant under your wing, for you are a close relative.” (Ruth 3:8-9)
Whenever you think about moving forward into your future, it is so important to know that the Lord has already gone before you and is orchestrating His divinely orchestrated plan and purpose for our lives. When God's people are involved, things do not just happen coincidentally or by happenstance but rather God's hand is always guiding the process and your progress.
Therefore, it is important for us to stay in alignment with God through obedience and to position ourselves for every good work that He has prepared for us.
At this point in the redemptive story of Ruth, we see that it is Naomi who is looking out for the well being of her daughter and seeking "security for [her], that it might be well with [her]. She makes a request for Ruth to go to Boaz in the evening after he has finished winnowing the barley and tells Ruth what to do. She tells her to lay down by his feet and let her marriage desire be made known to him. Then after hearing her heart, he will tell her what to do after that (since both Boaz and Naomi are both familiar with the laws of the kinsman redeemer (Go'el).
Here are the parameters of the law of the kinsman redeemer:
- To buy back another Israelite from slavery (Lev. 25:48).
- To buy back family land that’s been lost (Lev. 25:25).
- To carry on the family name by marrying a childless widow (Deut. 25:5-10).
As we focus in on Deuteronomy 25:5, we see that it directly applies to this situation: “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies [Mahlon] and has no son, the widow [Ruth] of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother [Boaz] shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty [Law of Go’el] of a husband’s brother to her.”
So as Ruth leaves Naomi, her primary role was to trust God and His plan and to be ready to do her part in full obedience. And that is exactly what Ruth says and does, as she responds saying, "All that you say to me I will do" (Ruth 3:5).
When God told Noah to build an ark...he was to build it for a specific purpose with God's specific design. When the time came for him to do so, we read, "Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did" (Gen. 6:22).
Or what about Mary...when she was told that the future Messiah and Child of promise would be born to her. Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
Is this the same perspective and objective that you have as you go into each day of your life? Are you ready ahead of time to give God your "YES" when He tells you to do something?
O how different things would be in our world if we all had this same readiness to obey all that the Lord tells us to do and that we were eager and willing to fulfill each task for God's glory and for the well being of others.
There are some interesting parallels of obedience in the first miracle of Jesus which also revolves around a marriage. He and His disciples were invited to a wedding in Cana. When the wine had run out, it was Mary (like Naomi) who came to Jesus and told Him of the problem and urged Him for a solution. Jesus made it clear that this was not the primary purpose for which He came, which was the hour of the cross, but He would display His power by being willing to transform the water into wine.
Jesus included the servants who were present to help carry out His miracle: "Jesus said to them, 'Fill the waterpots with water.' And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, 'Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.' And they took it" (John 2:7-8).
God loves to include each of us in the great works that He is accomplishing. We need to be willing vessels and who are willing to obey the Lord. God makes His requests to us but there are times when we also make our requests to Him.
Far too often, it can feel as if life is moving faster than we can process and sometimes things are thrown at us where we are being tested to make a judgment call about how we are going to act or react. This is why we need a pattern of good works and a well established godly character.
When Ruth showed up in the evening at the feet of Boaz, it certainly could give the appearance of an inappropriate situation. A young lady looking beautiful at the feet of a grown man who is resting alone in the field. However, these are two godly servants who both have honor and virtue as the character qualities of their lives. This privacy was actually to protect their integrity.
Ruth took a big step of faith and gently revealed that she was willing to come under the authority and covering of Boaz if he would be willing to take her as his wife, according to Israel's laws.
This hopeful request serves as a beautiful parallel of how the Church comes to the feet of the Lord to fully come under His wing to be a partaker of His inheritance. Similarly to Ruth, we too have been called to make ourselves ready and beautiful that we might be presented as a glorious bride as we are being sanctified, conformed, and united to Christ.
However, Unlike Ruth, we know that the Lord chose us before we ever chose Him and that He was willing to be our bridegroom and kinsman redeemer since He "demonstrated HIs own love toward us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).
Solomom wanted to have an understanding heart to judge God's people righteously (1 Kings 3). Nehemiah made a request to be sent back to Judah to rebuild the temple and its wall (Neh. 2).
So with this greater understanding, what is your hopeful request today?
Whenever asking God for something, may we always seek to bless others more than ourselves!
Whether it is Ruth showing more kindness to Boaz afterward or Jesus making the best wine in toward the end of the wedding, the Lord is always saving the very best for last.
Recent
Archive
2026
February
March
2025
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
September
November
2024
January
February
Categories
no categories
No Comments