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  Day 35 Ruth 4:11 “May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem” A reward that brings prestige. I read an article this morning about an American actress who was known years ago as the sweet and lovable aunt of the main characters of the show, known and respected by all in a made-up southern town. Many years after the show ended, both main characters went to her house to try to mend the relationship between them, but she did not open her door. It happened that this lady had been classically trained in very prestigious schools, only to be known in the U.S. as a simple homemaker who baked pies and offered good advice. Television had stereotyped her, and she could never shake it off. During the taping, she kept quiet and isolated. She was always sad and thoughtful, and the tension between her and the rest of the cast was clear because she did not receive the recognition she expected. We all long to be recognized. Anyone who says otherwise is only expr...

Day 34 Ruth 4:11-12 May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. A reward that restores past glories. They say that any time in the past was better. Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on so much. What is true is that when faced with adversity and an uncertain future, as humans, we tend to look back, and even though the rearview mirror shows us other hard times we have gone through, it also shows the results. That is where testimonies are born. It is those moments that reinforce our faith. If any time in the past was indeed better, it is only because we have seen the results and how our current life is better thanks to them. Ruth’s life had been difficult. But we can assume that at least, for a time, it may have been pleasant. If we return to the movie metaphor, maybe the director would show us a slow motion scene, with soft background music showing a young and happy Ruth, running hand in ...

Day 33 Ruth 4:11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses”. God will reward you in public. God’s love and mercy go so much farther than we can see or even imagine. And his grace is like an oxymoron that we will never understand. Human nature will always lean toward what it can see with its finite mind. But the mind of God goes much further. God’s promises are in the “yes” and the “amen”. Always. Anyone would think that even when God, in his mercy, decides to bless us or reward us for something we don’t deserve, He would do it in private so as not to tarnish his name or justice or damage his reputation before others. But He doesn’t care. That is how much He loves us. He treats each one of us as if we were the only person in the world. Circumstances for Ruth and Naomi were not the prettiest. Naomi’s shame and widowhood were public. Comments and rumors abounded. The women of the town talked. Just as Jesus offered himself, Boaz had mercy...

  Day 32 Ruth 4:6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.” God will reward you even when you don’t deserve it. How many times have you faced a problem or gone through a trial and thought, I didn’t deserve this! And, how many times have you received a great blessing and thought the same? You graduated from college with excellent grades: I worked hard for four years, and this is my reward. You had an easy childbirth: I did everything well, I ate healthy, took care of my body, and this is the result. I raised my children in church: I am now reaping the rewards of my efforts. It is not in our human nature to think that we don’t deserve the blessing. Only the tragedies. When faced with the man who was blind since birth in John 9, the disciples asked Jesus who had sinned. Maybe they thought that he somehow deserved his blindness because of some sin. Job’s friends i...

    PART IV RUTH’S REWARD Receive His reward   Day 31 Ruth 4:1 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. God will reward you in the wait. No one likes to wait. Sometimes I can’t sleep, so I start thinking of things I would like to have or do. Sometimes they are frugal, others make more sense. Some are simple, others complicated. But I like to think about the moment when I finally accomplish them, how happy they would make me. I don’t know if that is a wise thing to do, and it doesn’t matter. Dreaming makes me happy. This chapter in Ruth presents Boaz coming up to the door of the city, sort of like the public square where men would gather to talk about business and the issues of the day. The verse says that Boaz sat there. The implication is that Boaz sat down to wait. I would like to know what went through his mind while he waited. Was he seeing Ruth dressed like a bride, smiling, waiting for him? Did he see a houseful of children jumping...

  Day 31 Ruth 3:18 She replied, “Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.” Rest in the wait. Nine months. It is the time a mother must wait to hold her new baby in her arms. Four years (at least). The time a college student waits to graduate. Three hundred years. The time the Hebrews waited before being freed from the Egyptian rule. Four hundred years. The time they waited until the coming of the Messiah. Two thousand years. The time we have waited for the second coming of Christ…and we are still waiting. Waiting is not easy. How many times have we waited desperately for something without knowing if or when it would come? When will the man that God has prepared for me come? When will I have my first child? Will I be accepted into that university? Will I get that dream job? Will I be healed of this disease? Will my children have food on their table tomorrow? Some waits are more superficial th...

Day 30 Rut 3:9 “She answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” Rest in the asking. People asking for things constantly bother me. Organizations that are always asking for money. Churches that are always asking for something. I have never requested help from the government. I have never claimed my rights. I have never even asked for the desired salary in a job interview; I have just received what they offer without a counteroffer. It is part of my DNA. I simply do not like to ask , even if I regret it later, and later I see what others have and I could have enjoyed. Pride? Maybe? Arrogance? Perhaps. Stupidity? Hmm. But that attitude has brought me nothing but anger and disappointment at myself, anxiety, and more work for fewer rewards. There are countless polls where people are asked why they didn’t do a certain thing, and the answer is almost always the same: no one asked. The Word of God says we don’t have beca...

Day 29 Ruth 3:7b (NIV) “Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down .” Rest in the posture. Experts in body language would have a lot to say here. Body language reveals very subtly what our words try to hide. One of these forms of body language is our posture. Lying down is a form of posture that speaks of attitude, availability, and willingness. When we lie down, it is not only to give rest to our bodies. Lying down implies relaxing, vulnerability, comfort. Our soul and our mind rest. Lying next to someone may mean surrender. When a wife lies next to her husband, yes, it can indicate a desire for intimacy, but mostly it speaks of her need to feel loved and protected; it means she is expressing to him her vulnerability and her need for his presence. A child comes to his parents' bed and lies with them in the middle of the night because she had a nightmare. She knows that she will be safe with them; she has nothing to fear. A relaxed body is powerless in it...

Day 28 Ruth 3:7b (NIV) “Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet , and lay down.” Rest in humility. Pride takes many forms and has many faces. We all know the face of arrogance. Many can recognize the face of false humility. Only a few can recognize the face of the secret desire for recognition and affirmation and affection, though it is the most prevalent. There are many more, irrelevant for now. But unfortunately, they are all part of the original offer that the serpent made when she said to Eve, “You will be like God.” I wonder if it wasn’t there where it was born. Eve was created from Adam’s rib. When she first appeared, she had to compete with all the other creatures that were in the garden before her. The “new kid on the block” syndrome, to put it nicely. The task of naming the animals had not been given to her. Everything was done when she got there, and I am sure that, just as we do many times, she had to compete for her husband’s time and attention. This happened ...

Day 27 Ruth 3:7b (NIV) “Ruth approached quietly , uncovered his feet, and lay down.” Rest in silence. Have you ever felt anxious? I have. Right now, as I write this, I feel anxious. Voices inside and outside of myself yell and make my fingers freeze on the keyboard. Or they make them run so fast that I have to keep hitting the backstroke key because I press the wrong letters because of the speed. It is frustrating and maddening. Then the questions: What will the readers think? Am I saying what God wants me to say? What if someone gets offended by my words? What if I can’t reach the hearts of the readers? How do you feel when you are anxious? Do you hear harassing voices telling you everything you don’t want to hear? Making you question your decisions? Go this way. No, that way. Do this. No, that. Go back. Keep moving. It’s not worth it. Stop trying. How did I get here? What will happen when I arrive? Can you imagine all that must have gone through Ruth’s mind on her way to ...

Day 26 Ruth 3:5 “And she replied, ‘All that you say I will do.’” Rest in obedience. The musical play, now movie, Wicked , a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, tells the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West became wicked. She rebelled against an establishment that looked upon her differently because she was different. She would not accept being part of the status quo. In one iconic song she says, “And if I'm flying solo, at least I'm flying free. To those who ground me, take a message back from me: Tell them how I am defying gravity. I'm flying high, defying gravity”. Autonomy is a human trait. We would rather be poor and hungry if it means we are free. A noble ideal, indeed. It’s what makes up for revolutions. But like everything else, it can be taken to extremes, especially when we seek independence from God and leave the umbrella of His protection. An old hymn speaks of “trust and obey, there is no other way. To be happy in Jesus, we must trust and obey”. This...

Day 25 Ruth 3:3-4 When he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” Make a plan to rest. That doesn’t sound like rest. It's an oxymoron. Making a plan sure seems more like work than it does rest. Yet have you ever gone on vacation on the fly? I have. A long time ago my family and I decided to go away on a long weekend on the spur of the moment. So, we took the kids and my sister and headed on to what had promised to be a well-deserved time of fun and relaxation. It was about a fifteen-hour trip. What we did not count on was that it was the New Year weekend. We left early in the morning and everything was fine. We talked and laughed, all with the expectation of the time ahead. As evening came, I asked my husband where we would be spending the night. To this, he answered, “We’ll find a place soon.” Wait, what? No reservations? “Oh, there will be plenty of places along the highway. Sure enough, we s...

Day 24 Ruth 3:3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor. Rest from the ordinary. It’s a different generation. I remember going to church on Sundays. Getting ready. Morning shower. Make-up. Sunday clothes. Nothing was too good to wear on Sunday morning. It was the outing. The highlight of the week. Now it startles me to see beautiful young girls and women dressed in rags to go to church. I have even seen some in pajamas. Yet, I see on their social media how well they clean up for a party on Friday or Saturday night. I know there is an argument and something to be said about “come as you are” and “there is no judgment here”. That is true, too. It could be a long conversation. I get it. We don’t want someone to feel uncomfortable in church or not walk in at all because they fear they have to do something before, or that they have to do “clean up” to be accepted. But let’s look at this another way. Naomi told Ruth to wash and...

Day 23 Ruth 3:3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor. Rest from the filthiness of work. Most people I know come from work or school or gym, and the first thing they do is shower and change into clean clothes. There is something freeing about a clean feeling. Regardless of the weather, the freshness that comes with a shower and a clean set of clothes is not easily matched. Obviously, if your work is outside, or if it is a job that is physically demanding, you will see it better. But it is true even for other, non-physical, easier jobs as well. God told Adam that he would eat his bread by the sweat of his face (Genesis 3:19). He was not kidding. Work affects us all. It makes us tired physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We come home exhausted, stressed, and if we had a really hard day, just plain old grumpy. Then we jump into that shower or tub, let the water have contact with our skin, and it seems like, magically...

Day 22 Ruth 3:1 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Rest in His will. Rest is the outcome of being in God’s will. Therefore, we will never find rest until we do God’s will. With all the work Ruth did and all the effort she had put into caring for her mother-in-law, she still had not found rest. Had she continued on that path, while making ends meet and surviving day by day, that is all she would have accomplished. At the end of her life, there would be nothing to show for it, and all she would have to look back on was another day of the same. How sad that we should live our lives that way, day after day after day, doing the same old thing, expecting nothing more than our daily pay, especially when we have all the resources God has given us. That is what happened to Ruth. She had God’s command at her disposal. God had told Israel that the widows who were left without inheritance were to be redee...