Ruth 2:4-23
Do you want to hear a joke? What was Boaz before Ruth? Give up? Ruthless.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Boaz was neither ruthless before nor after he met Ruth. At a time when many had turned away from the Lord (Ruth 1:1), Boaz reflected his Redeemer.
The first thing we see Boaz doing in the Book of Ruth is blessing his workers. We have a God who never ceases to bless us. Who could you bless today?
Next, we see Boaz’s obedience. The LORD gave Israel laws to provide for the poor and resident alien. Few, however, followed those laws in Boaz’s day. Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me (John 6:38).” Do you long to obey the Lord?
Third, Boaz looked at the heart. Boaz heard all about what Ruth had done for her mother-in-law. He saw her heart. Girls and boys, may you be cautioned about looking only at the outside. Our society makes too much of how someone looks. When you choose the person you will marry, look twice at his or her heart for every time you look at his or her appearance. God cares far more about the heart than appearances.
Boaz gives Ruth a new status. He raises her up from the position of a beggar and makes her as one of his own, with all the privileges that pertained. The Apostle Peter says to believers, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:10).” Just as Ruth came with empty hands looking for favor, we beggarly sinners come to our Lord with empty hands. He makes us his own, with all the privileges that pertain.
Boaz protects Ruth. He protects her from the persecution that might have come to her as a foreigner and from the sexual harassment she might have received as a lonely young woman working among many men. Christ is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life to rescue his sheep from mortal danger (John 10:11).
Boaz provides for Ruth abundantly. He piles her plate high with roasted grain. As the Apostle Paul said, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him give us all things (Romans 8:23)?”
Boaz serves as an instrument in his Redeemer’s Hand. By giving yourself to your Redeemer, so can you.