Risking Fatih - Ruth Series

This devotion is an excerpt from the book, The Gospel of Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules and was written by Carolyn Custis James. We hope you will be encouraged.

A HOLY RISK TAKER

He had a classic case of cold feet. BBC Radio sounded in the background as I was cleaning our Oxford flat. An actor was reading one of Maeve Binchy’s short stories1 about a couple on the eve of their wedding day. Bridal attendants, relatives, and other guests were arriving from out of town. After months of planning and expense, final details were all in order, and the big day was just hours away. Flowers had arrived, and the church looked lovely. The bride had only herself to prepare. She was looking forward to a long hot bath and a restful sleep. And now this. Her fiancé, sitting across from her, was ashen-faced and fumbling for words. She could hardly believe her ears. He was backing out. I stopped what I was doing and sat down on the sofa to listen.

There was nothing she could do. He just couldn’t go forward. To save face, she persuaded him to let her be the one who didn’t show up for the wedding. Relieved that she was taking it so well, the young man agreed. Under the circumstances, it was the least he could do. Next day, as promised, when the wedding march struck up, he solemnly took his place at the front of the church with his best man and the rector. The doors in the back swung open, and all eyes (including his) turned to look. I held my breath. The reader continued, “There she was, coming down the aisle, perfectly at ease on her father’s arm and as beautiful a bride as anyone could imagine.”

The couple didn’t discuss what happened until sometime later on their honeymoon, but the upshot was that she knew him better than he knew himself. The experience no doubt put him on notice that there was a good chance she’d outsmart him again in future situations where they didn’t see eye to eye.

Boaz got cold feet too, although the chill he felt was more from the cool night air than from a case of nerves. That isn’t to say his nerves didn’t get a jolt — just that nerves didn’t influence his behavior. In one of the most intriguing (and also comical, when you think about it) scenes in the Bible, Boaz — a buttoned-down man of impeccable conduct — awakens in the middle of the night to discover a woman lying at his feet. No doubt it’s an understatement to say he was jolted. There probably aren’t words to describe his shock at the awful predicament he was in, and it would be worth a lot to have seen the look on his face.

On the particular night in question, Boaz was a man at rest. The storyteller has fast forwarded about seven weeks2 through both the barley and wheat harvests, bringing us to scenes surrounding the winnowing of the grain.3 After this year’s harvest, Boaz’s quarterly reports are looking good. His accounts are in the black. His workers are paid, and he has even extended his hand to the poor. All season long, he has done everything according to the book. The threshing floor where he is sleeping is heaped with piles of winnowed grain — evidence of a successful crop, lots of hard work, and of God’s good bounty. With painful memories still fresh in his mind of the Bethlehem famine that once devastated his land, Boaz is a grateful man.

Ah, the well-deserved rest that comes to such a man. He has feasted merrily with his workers and is now slumbering peacefully on the threshing floor (presumably with one eye open to guard his grain). And now this. The silhouette of a woman next to him in the darkness has alarm bells going off in his head. Just wait until Bethlehem tabloids catch wind of this! This man of valor can easily imagine this private moment leading to a public fall from grace, no matter what happens next. Suddenly wide awake, Boaz whispers hoarsely in the darkness, “Who are you?” (Ruth 3:9).

THE PAST INVADES THE PRESENT

This, of course, is where it helps to remember that God is still the main hero of the story. The Bible (including this strange and mysterious episode) centers on revealing him and his transforming work in human hearts. There is deep theology in this chapter too, but we have to wade through some murky issues to begin to see it. Questions we face in this scene underscore why we need to keep reminding ourselves that each new episode in this story is deeply embedded in what has gone before.

Naomi, despite her remarkable recovery, is still in a lot of pain. And Ruth has not forgotten the pledge she made to her mother-in-law back on the road connecting Moab to Bethlehem. Even here with Boaz, her vow continues to be the driving force behind her choices and her actions. She worked diligently through the barley and the wheat harvests — close behind the maids of Boaz — to make sure Naomi has plenty to eat in the present and a well-stocked larder for the long winter ahead. But they are still in poverty, still putting one foot in front of the other in their efforts to survive. Ruth will bring as much energy, resourcefulness, devotion to Naomi, and out-of-the-box thinking to this new challenge as she has to everything else.

As for Boaz, his interactions with Ruth so far have only served to enhance his standing in the community. If anything, he stands even taller in Bethlehem now as both a man of valor and a man of uncommon generosity. We thought a lot of him when we first met him. Now that we’ve seen him voluntarily aiding Ruth’s efforts to take care of Naomi, we respect him even more. So whatever questions and uncertainties we bring to the current episode, our understanding of what happens next must factor in what we’ve already observed in the character and behavior of each of these three individuals up to this point.