Finding Rest

Be Thou My Vision: A Liturgy for Daily Worship Day 1

Prayer for Illumination

As you read his word, ask God to enlighten your mind and heart:

Almighty God, and most merciful Father, we humbly submit ourselves, and fall down before your Majesty, asking you from the bottom of our hearts, that this seed of your Word now sown among us, may take such deep root, that neither the burning heat of persecution cause it to wither, nor the thorny cares of this life choke it. But that, as seed sown in good ground, it may bring forth thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold, as your heavenly wisdom has appointed. Amen.

Ruth 3 ESV

Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. But 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.” And she replied, “All that you say I will do.” So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.” So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.” And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city. And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her, saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’ ” 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.”

Catch Up

We start the semester picking up where we left off. We open up to Ruth chapter 3 and as a reminder of where we have come, in the day when the judges ruled, we were introduced to a woman named Naomi who was driven to Moab with her husband and two sons because of famine in the land. While there, her sons married women and then in rapid succession, her husband and two sons die,d leaving all three women widowed. Naomi returns to Bethlehem with only one daughter-in-law, Ruth. Naomi is grateful for Ruth’s sacrificial kindness and wants to bless Ruth in the new land.

Sign of Blessing

One of the signs of covenant blessing in the Old Testament can be found in Deut 6:3 “Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Land, family, and God’s presence were the three main blessings promised to God’s people. So Naomi is looking to help Ruth find that blessing.

A commentator who really helped me with this text, Mary Wilson Hannah, put it like this:

Deuteronomy–Ruth Comment

Not all agree about how to interpret the characterization of Naomi in 3:1–4. Does Naomi’s plan negatively illustrate maternal manipulation and ungodly pragmatism (cf. Gen. 16:1–6)? Or does Naomi’s plan positively illustrate godly shrewdness, that is, her bold initiative showing the compatibility of faithful human initiative/agency and divine providence? The latter view seems better in the whole-book context. Naomi’s plotting expresses a growing hopefulness in her outlook (cf. progression from Ruth 1:20–21 to 2:19–20 and to 3:1–4).

Human initiative and God’s Providence

The entire book of Ruth is one big story of human initiative and God’s providence within compatibly together with one another. Humans keep choosing to bring things about but it is quite obvious that god is the one who is pulling the strings.

So Naomi tells Ruth to go and seek rest, that it may be well with you. The rest that Naomi offers to Ruth is in a marriage proposal.

Again Wilson-Hannah States:

Deuteronomy–Ruth Comment

By willingly risking her own reputation and safety to propose to him, this young Moabitess continues epitomizing self-sacrificial, covenant loyalty. In meekness, she counts Naomi’s interests as more significant than her own.

Ruth has no right to even approach Boaz in this culture and make such a huge claim on his life, but she does.

God Has Plans for you

This leads me to my first point for your time in grad school. When you are struggling, thinking that God has bigger problems to deal with than you, or that you can’t ask for the things that you desperately want because of your social status, think again. God is a good father who wants to give you good gifts. Whe your will and God’s will are so perfectly in line with one another, what you are asking for is what God wants. God wants you step out in faith and live your life in a sacrificial, life giving, meek way toward others. You can have confidence to boldly ask for what you want because God is ultimately working out his Kingdom through you.

Proverbs Woman Portrait

What is fascinating to note here is that in the ancient three part Hebrew structure of the Old Testament, Ruth came immediately following the book of Proverbs. The book of proverbs shows what the ideal portrait of the Women Who Fears the Lord and in the book of Ruth we get the actual history of a woman who embodies that! What is so fascinating about this is that the woman who perfectly embodies the Proverbs 31 woman is not someone who was born fearing the lord. Ruth was born an a Moabite who was thrown into impoverishment. Look and see what god’s heart is to those who are far away.

God uses broken, destitute people who don’t grow up in Christian homes and whose parents didn’t read them Bible stories at night to bring about his amazing redemptive purposes.

God Fearing Man Portrait

Next we see Boaz promising to Redeem Ruth no matter what. What we don’t know is who is going to be the Redeemer. Someone stand in line before Boaz as Kings man-Redeemer but Boaz is determined to stand up to the challenge. If we get the portrait of the Women Who fears the lord in Ruth we see the same portrait for the man in this section. Boaz neither acts self-protectively, trying to absolve himself from responsibility because there is a nearer redeemer than him, nor does he act autonomously by trying to claim Ruth as his bride while totally ignoring the laws of Israel. Instead, what we see is a man who doesn’t act in his own self-interest but in the interest of others. This man steps up when responsibility is placed on his shoulders and decides to accept it as if it was from the Lord.

The themes of God’s sovereign hand are written all throughout this love story. As we meditate on the characters and the triumphs, we see that Christians are now in a similar place as Ruth and Naomi were left at the end of Chapter 3. Boaz gave Ruth six measures of barley as almost a down payment on his promise, a foretaste to covenant faithfulness that he will later bring to Naomi. Christians now live in what is called the already but not yet. We live in this in-between time where Christ has come, defeated death, and rose from the grave to give us a foretaste of what life to some will be life. He acted on our behalf as our Kinsman Redeemer who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself for our sake. This man, our Redeemer, is the one we now await the return of.

Look For Rest This Semester

We end this scene of the story as almost a reversal of it’s beginning. We started the chapter with Naomi telling Ruth to go and find rest that it may be well with her. IN verse 18 we hear Namoi’s call to Ruth to now wait for the man who will bring her rest. Just like Boaz gave Ruth a tangible sign of his redemption in the six measures of barley, Christ has given us tangible signs of his redemption in the bread and the cup. We watch and partake together, proclaiming the Lord’s death on our behalf waiting for him to return and finally vindicate us from the final enemy in the world. Death. Jesus says in Matthew 11.28 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” and yet we are awaiting the day of rest finally to come when death shall be no more. So this Semester I ask you to turn to Jesus for the soul rest that you are longing for. He has already accomplished it for you and is everything you need.