Word Live: Hope On The Horizon
‘Lord, when I see somebody in need, help me not to turn away in embarrassment, fear or apathy, but to be willing to go the extra mile to help. Amen.’
Bible passage
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.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
I recently heard about a young woman who, although in a dark place herself, wanted to bring light into other people’s lives. She started crocheting brightly coloured flowers and leaving them wherever she went for people to find and take home. Other people leave books, painted rocks, scarves. Pay forward a coffee. There’s always something we can do to lighten a load. Often anonymously.
Boaz continues to do all he can for Ruth. He goes the extra mile, but discreetly, making sure his men actively make barley available for her (vs 15,16). Ruth, although grateful, has no idea who he is, or how God is already working in her life.
When Naomi hears their benefactor is Boaz (v 20), the name immediately rings a bell. He is a relative on her husband’s side, thus making him a guardian-redeemer, a man legally bound to take care of the family in their troubles. Naomi blesses both Boaz and God. She knows God is at the heart of all good. Hope blossoms for Ruth’s future (and hers). But patience is still called for as the tale unfolds (v 23).
Author
Liz Pacey
Respond
‘Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble’ (1 Peter 3:8). Make this your prayer for yourself. Ask God if there is
something specific you can do to brighten someone’s day.
Deeper Bible study
‘You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.’1
What a relief it must have been for Ruth and Naomi to get to the end of this first day! After their grief, suffering and bitter disappointment, they now experience mercy and grace. When Ruth left to work in the fields that morning, she faced many struggles. She was in a difficult and vulnerable position, facing arduous physical labour, potential sexual harassment from men in the fields (vs 9,22) and discrimination because she was a foreigner. Naomi, in her depressed state, may have worried all day as she waited for Ruth to return, not knowing what new disaster would fall on them. Perhaps she expected the worst. Absorbed in grief, Naomi seems largely unthankful for the steadfast faithfulness of Ruth’s companionship and care.2 Through Ruth’s hard work and Boaz’s protection and kindness, however, hope breaks through into Naomi’s mind and spirit. She acknowledges that God had not forgotten her after all (v 20). Prayers of thanksgiving and blessing are on Naomi’s lips for the first time in a long while! She begins to hope that God’s Law may be fulfilled though Boaz. She recalls God’s provision of the guardian-redeemer,3 who was required by the Law of God to bring deliverance and restoration to needy and vulnerable relatives.
God’s Word is full of his steadfast love and his faithful promises, but hardship can make us forget God’s faithfulness. It is good to remember what he has done for us, to recall his promises to us and to be thankful. When we are struggling with grief and hardships, we can still look to the Lord to help us and to keep his promises.4
In times of struggle, remember the Lord’s faithfulness and his promises to you – all true in Christ Jesus. Give thanks, too, for all those who are a blessing to you.
1Job 10:12, NRSV 2Ruth 1:21 3Lev 25:25–55 42 Cor 1:20–22
Author
Katharine McPhail
