Ruth 3:1-5 New International Version (NIV)
Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor
3 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home[a] for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” 5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. Mon. November 9 Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, wanted to take care of her widowed daughter-in-law by finding her a new husband or “find a home” for Ruth. The problem was not that Ruth was weak or unintelligent. In that time and culture, she had very few rights or access to resources. At that time women had few opportunities to make a living. Also, she was a foreigner. Worse yet, her people, the Moabites, were historic enemies of the Israelites (see Numbers 22). There was no social safety net to provide food stamps or healthcare and she had no family other than Naomi to help her. Without Naomi, she was on her own! But at the heart of Ruth’s story is the claim that we are never alone. No matter what we see with our eyes that seems to say that we are alone, God has promised to always be with us. Unlike Ruth, we have the incredible benefit of knowing Jesus! We are never alone. We are always loved. As Paul writes, “[nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:39).
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