Tuesday's Devo - Our Story

Read Ruth 2: 1-12
Naomi had a kinsman who was wealthy. His name was Boaz. Ever noticed that when the Bible spoke of a godly man it says: "his name was____________" and when it speaks of an ungodly man it says "and __________ was his name". So we know that Boaz was a godly man. He was a scholar of the Torah and one of the judges appointed over Bethlehem.
In verse 2 it says that Ruth offered to go glean in the fields after the reapers. In Lev. 19:9-10 it is a law that when you reap the harvest of your field, you should not reap the corners of the field nor gather what falls on the ground after the gleaners; leave them for the poor and stranger. Every law has a spiritual truth. What God was saying is that the field is the world and the reapers are the angels. One day they will reap to the four corners of the earth and every man will give an account. Until that day, they reap only in part and they leave what falls out. It reminds me of the great disasters that happen today. They are only in isolated places and there are always those who survive. It is God's mercy to let some fall and not be reaped yet.
Ruth just happened to glean on Boaz's field. And Boaz just happened to have just gotten in town and decided to go check on his fields. And he just happened to notice Ruth and ask about her. (There are no "just happens" with God. God strategically orchestrates our lives.) When Boaz asks his workers about her and they tell him her whole story and how she is kin to Naomi. He asks Ruth to come back and always glean in his fields. I wonder if he fell in love with her at first sight? He promises her safety from harm and water to drink.
Boaz is a type of Jesus and Ruth is a type of the Gentile church. She feels unworthy to receive such grace being a stranger. The early church felt the same way. They accepted a Jewish saviour and a Jewish law to become a believer. Ruth was the stranger coming into a Jewish culture and accepting its God. In verse 12 Boaz seals her salvation when he says: "The Lord recompense your work, and may the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to trust give you a full reward."
Ruth is our book. The book of the redeemed!!!