The Foreigner

Ruth 2:8-9 - Then Boaz said to Ruth, “You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”

I read the Book of Ruth yesterday. It's a story of redemption. Ruth was the daughter in law of Naomi who had lost her husband and both of her sons, leaving only her two daughters in law. Naomi was from Moab.  Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem where her husband was originally from because she had heard the LORD had removed a famine it once had and Moab offered less. (This is a type of the world...what it has is far less than what God has for us.) She was to become a foreigner.

Naomi suggested the daughters in law stay in Moab. She had not much life to offer them, they were familiar with the land of Moab and its people. But Ruth chose to go with Naomi. 

They had little possessions and stayed with a relative of Naomi's husband...Boaz. Ruth went into his field to collect leftover crops to sustain she and Naomi when Boaz caught sight of her. Here's where the redemption comes in because He provides the food and the drink that satisfies! 

The words are so clearly used to describe God's love for us. Ruth came in total submission, in humility, needing much, having little. "And she said, 'Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.' So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.” (Ruth 2:7)

Boaz, who is a type of the Lord, heard and offered what he had.  For this Ruth was most grateful. She did what we who have done,  in some way,  after knowing the help of God in our lives. She fell on her face and bowed before him. It is a question so often asked of believers who have received His provision to save us: Why have I found favor in Your eyes? I am a foreigner (unbeliever). 

His answer to us who have humbled ourselves before the Lord: Because we have chosen to leave what we've known to enter into a relationship with Him and a new people (other believers). I think of the scripture that says: But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1Peter 2:9-10)

Phrases in chapter 2 that point to what Jesus is and does and causes us to do:

...under whose wings you have come for refuge; she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back; gave (shared) what she had kept back after she had been satisfied; who has not forsaken His kindness to the living and the dead. 

In the end, Boaz takes Ruth as his wife. This is like the marriage, some day, of Jesus, our Lord, and we His bride. 

If we have gone through this process of redemption we can understand the points here. And...we are commanded to share, not keep back, what He has shared with us! That's why I write.

Boaz had mercy on this young woman. Jesus has mercy on those who want it from Him. As the story of Ruth goes on, Boaz is taken by her and takes her as his wife. When God is taken by each of us and, whether male or female, He longs for a relationship with us. Bride-bridegroom. To do this we give up what we have known to enter a new life, in Christ, and be joined with Him and others who have forsaken their old lives. 

Ephesians 2:4-7 - But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.