– Written by Dee
As mentioned before, Boaz was a man worth waiting for… Especially for Ruth. To have experienced such a loss and to have traveled such a distance and finally meet a man like Boaz, was nothing short of a divine hand on Ruth’s life. Today, I want to focus on Ruth. In order for her to be prepared to receive someone like Boaz, she had to be at the right place at the right time.
We all make a list of attributes we want for our Boaz, but what about what we want for ourselves? Boaz was just a man living life without pretense, serving God and serving his people… until Ruth came along. He still served God and served his people but he took notice of one woman in his field, working diligently. See, the amazing fact about Ruth is that she didn’t even know who Boaz was until he approached her. She didn’t go to his field, searching for him. He found her.
I find it incredible that this woman had no clue what Boaz would come to mean for her and her mother-in-law, how he would change her life the way he did. She was too busy serving her new God and her mother-in-law. I believe as a new convert to the faith, she was overwhelmed with joy and peace to be in the same family as her mother-in-law, after desperately saying that she would go anywhere with Naomi, even if death was the end for her. Instead, she found a new life and the peace that comes from serving the Living God. She hit the ground running, finding work to provide for those important to her.
Naomi was her mother and she wanted to do all she could to make Naomi happy. She was by no means looking for a man or a distraction. In her selfless, undistracted way, Ruth fell upon a new opportunity. An open field full of them!
Was Boaz handsome and charming? Who knows if he was a mature tall man with broad shoulders and a resonating deep voice… or whether he was a kind, old man with gentle eyes that held onto the cords of her heart. It doesn’t even say that Ruth fell for Boaz immediately. In fact, Naomi probably planted the seeds of romance in Ruth’s heart, prodding her to go meet Boaz… It doesn’t mention that Ruth wanted to be married again after having lost her first husband.
What it does say is that Boaz knew her to be a woman of excellence (Ruth 3:11) and he took Ruth to be his wife (Ruth 4:13). Okay, so maybe it’s not the ideal romance where the man sweeps the woman off her feet and gives her a resounding kiss that leaves her breathless and her head spinning. Maybe Boaz didn’t exactly take several months to court her till she blushed pink or giggle like a little schoolgirl as he chased her across his fields. Sometimes I wonder why in some stories in the Bible, the romance is clear for Jacob and Rachel, Adam and Eve, Esther and King Xerxes, and on the other hand, Ruth and Boaz don’t get an overt romantic tale. Then I realize that it doesn’t really matter… Ruth found her happily-ever after with Boaz, in whatever capacity that was.
Some of us don’t necessarily believe in the happily-ever after, or maybe subconsciously we do but life makes it hard to trust it exists. In God’s divine plan, Ruth and Boaz begat Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David. In God’s plan, some of us might feel like there is no partner to beget anyone… maybe you’re right to think this way. Yet for those still holding on to your version of the Standard, how about first focusing on you serving God and man? Live selflessly, love unconditionally and live without pretense. Your Boaz might just be around the corner.
In whatever state you’re in, waiting or living, do it all for God. In fact, suspend your list and focus your attention on Him. He’s faithful to give you the desires he’s planted in you to have.
Let me know what you think? Share your thoughts.
DeeKoDee's Stories 