Today I continued my study of the life of Ruth. I find myself wondering how differently her life would had turned out if she had not followed where the Lord had led her. Would she have started a people group that was never meant to exist, like Abraham and Sarah did with Ishmael? Would she have been punished for her disobedience, like God punished Moses by refusing to let him enter the promised land? Would she have lost her place in the genealogy of Jesus?
The Bible is full of accounts of the mistakes of people who did things the wrong way. But Ruth's story is a refreshing example of someone who did it the right way. We'll never know what would have happened to her if she had stayed in Moab. But I can guarantee you that she would have never been able to provide for her mother-in-law. She would have never married Boaz. She would have never become a part of Jesus' family line.
It's so easy to rush God's plan, to think that your timing is better than His. But a masterpiece cannot be created rushed, haphazardly. It takes patience, dedication, and talent to see it through to the end. Skills that, honestly, we as humans do not possess. We want to hurry things along, we don't want to wait, we want our way and we want it now. But one of these days someone is going to come around who will make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else. Something is going to happen that will make you understand why all of your efforts were futile. God had bigger plans for you. He has bigger plans for all of us. Whatever we can imagine....His plans are bigger. But He can only show us His plans if we stop interjecting our own. So let Him lead. Trust that He really is looking out for you. Do it the right way.
The Bible is full of accounts of the mistakes of people who did things the wrong way. But Ruth's story is a refreshing example of someone who did it the right way. We'll never know what would have happened to her if she had stayed in Moab. But I can guarantee you that she would have never been able to provide for her mother-in-law. She would have never married Boaz. She would have never become a part of Jesus' family line.
It's so easy to rush God's plan, to think that your timing is better than His. But a masterpiece cannot be created rushed, haphazardly. It takes patience, dedication, and talent to see it through to the end. Skills that, honestly, we as humans do not possess. We want to hurry things along, we don't want to wait, we want our way and we want it now. But one of these days someone is going to come around who will make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else. Something is going to happen that will make you understand why all of your efforts were futile. God had bigger plans for you. He has bigger plans for all of us. Whatever we can imagine....His plans are bigger. But He can only show us His plans if we stop interjecting our own. So let Him lead. Trust that He really is looking out for you. Do it the right way.
Ruth 2:8-18
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.”
When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.”
17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough.
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