We Must Live by the Grace of God (Ruth 2:4-16)

3/18/2010 8:15 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                              Focus:  We must live by the grace of God

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Ruth 2:4-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “4 ¶  Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, "May the LORD be with you." And they said to him, "May the LORD bless you." 5  Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?" 6  The servant in charge of the reapers replied, "She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the land of Moab. 7  "And she said, ’Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ Thus she came and has remained from the morning until now; she has been sitting in the house for a little while." 8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field; furthermore, do not go on from this one, but stay here with my maids. 9  "Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Indeed, I have commanded the servants not to touch you. When you are thirsty, go to the water jars and drink from what the servants draw." 10  Then she fell on her face, bowing to the ground and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?" 11  Boaz replied to her, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband has been fully reported to me, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and came to a people that you did not previously know. 12  "May the LORD reward your work, and your wages be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge." 13  Then she said, "I have found favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and indeed have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants." 14  At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here, that you may eat of the bread and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar." So she sat beside the reapers; and he served her roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied and had some left. 15  When she rose to glean, Boaz commanded his servants, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her. 16  "Also you shall purposely pull out for her some grain from the bundles and leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.’”

            I would suppose that most people like to read a good love story, and this seems to have the makings of a good love story.  As Warren Wiersbe unfolds this portion of the story of Ruth he does it by having his readers notice the evidences of God’s grace in the way Boaz related to Ruth, and he does it in five bullet points that cover verses 4-16 if the second chapter of Ruth.  It must be remembered that this second point in which these five sub-points are outlined is the second way in which we as believers see God work in our lives and circumstances that will accomplish His gracious purposes, and then there are certain conditions that we must meet.  These conditions are illustrated in Ruth’s experiences in this chapter of which this is the second.

(1) Boaz took the initiative (Ruth 2:8)   Before I get into this part I want to make a brief comment on the verses 4-8 of this second chapter of Ruth.  Boaz, who was an important man in Bethlehem, and must have been quite wealthy, comes out to greet the reapers who were working for him and while doing this he sees Ruth and asks about her.  I believe that Warren Wiersbe hits the nail on the head when he writes that he believes that it was love at first sight for what happens next seems to prove his point.  Boaz asks who she is and then he goes right to her and talks to her and because he had heard that she was the daughter-in-law of Naomi and that she had left her country and her parents to come here with Ruth he seems very impressed.

            In verse eight it is seen that Boaz took the initiative in speaking to Ruth and as stated above it was probably because of the love that he had for Ruth.  This is not unlike God who took the first step in loving me as stated in 1John 4:19 “We love, because He first loved us.” 

(2) Boaz spoke to Ruth (Ruth 2:8) Boaz spoke to Ruth first as it would have been wrong for her to speak to him first.  I know that I had spoken to God before I became a believer but I am not so sure that He listened to me until I first listen to Him speak to me as God is so very much higher than me and yet He not only spoke to me, but He loved me and saved me through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.  (When saying that God spoke to me it was through His Word and through His Holy Spirit who lives in me since I have become His child, and this has never been in an audible voice, rather Spirit to spirit).

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The Lord has seen fit in these last seven years of my life and in the life of my wife to use some difficult circumstances to grow us more to be like the image of His Son as Romans 8:29 tells us we are to be like.  There has been a great loss of money, a church split, a botched up surgery done to my wife, and now some difficult times again in our church.  God knows all about this and has worked in our lives through this and supplied all our needs through this financial crisis.  I will be glade when circumstances change for our better, yet I can say with assurance that God is faithful and that God loves us with the perfect kind of love that only He can love us.  This book of Ruth is becoming a real encouragement to me and I am thankful for the privilege of studying it.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Continue to trust and to serve the Lord.

 

3/18/2010 9:07 AM