Waiting: God's Providence in Our Trust

Introduction 

Our passage today can seem like a simple narrative. But woven through each moment—Naomi sending Ruth, Ruth approaching Boaz, and both women awaiting his response—is the theme of waiting with trust. 

In each significant juncture of this episode, there is a need to wait. Naomi had to wait while she sent Ruth out. Ruth had to wait while Boaz sleeps. Ruth and Naomi had to wait while Boaz went out to make his play for Ruth. 

Waiting is not only hard. It is uncomfortable. Sometimes it is even painful. 

Each passing day reminds us of what we still long for. 

But Ruth 3 teaches us that we can wait with confidence—not because we’ve done everything perfectly, but because we have taken faithful steps and our hope is in the God who provides, redeems, and governs all things. A God whose providence is at work even in our trust.  

I want to walk us through this chapter in three parts. 1) The Risk. 2) The Request 3) The Response.  

Let us pray and ask for God blessing our time.  

The Risk– 3:1-5

Ruth 3:1–5 CSB

Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shouldn’t I find rest for you, so that you will be taken care of? Now isn’t Boaz our relative? Haven’t you been working with his female servants? This evening he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash, put on perfumed oil, and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, notice the place where he’s lying, go in and uncover his feet, and lie down. Then he will explain to you what you should do.” So Ruth said to her, “I will do everything you say.”

Ruth 3 begins with Naomi encouraging Ruth to engage with Boaz beyond a landowner-servant relationship.  

I want to bring your attention to how the chapter starts. Naomi says in 3:1, “My daughter, shouldn’t I find rest for you...” That is same prayer Naomi prayed for Ruth and Orpah in chapter 1 when she was sending them away.  

At that time, Naomi had nothing else to offer but prayer. But now, God has opened a door where she is able to act on her prayer.  

The scripture is full of examples of that God using people as agents to answer prayers.  

We saw it last week with Boaz and we are seeing it today with Naomi. I can’t emphasize this enough: God sometimes provides us with the resource to be the answered prayer to some of the prayers we offer for people. And we cannot ignore that. God’s generosity and kindness works through us. 

The prayer that convicts me the most is when I pray for God to provide food for those who do not have. At the same time, I do nothing to provide food for them from what God has given me.  

There are multiple local food shelters in the area.  

Can I really not spend $50 once a month or once a year to buy groceries for them to use? 

That’s just one example—but the principle applies across the board. 

What if God has already equipped you to be part of the answer to your prayer? 

You’re praying for family to come to Christ—when was the last time you shared Jesus with them? 

Naomi puts together a plan to secure Ruth a better future. She knows she likely has more days behind her than she does ahead of her and it would not be a good idea to leave Ruth by herself in a foreign land.  

She tells Ruth where Boaz will be, what he’ll be doing and tells her what to do.  

She says in 3:2 that Boaz will be “winnowing the barley on the threshing floor.” A threshing floor is an open outdoor space where the grain is separated from the husk. 

After threshing, the farmer would winnow the barley by tossing it in the air with a shovel or some other tool to separate the grain from the husk he removed.  

Noami tells Ruth to freshen up, smell good, and look respectable. I know 3:3 says “wear your best clothes” and there’s a reason for that translation but not sure it gets at the heart of the phrase.  

The phrase in its original form is simply the word clothes twice which gives some sort of emphasis. So, it makes sense that the translation would be “best clothes” and it could be that but how best would the best clothes of a poor person be? If you’re poor, your clothes is not what you are using to impress people.  

Here’s the thing with threshing floors. It’s filled with men. And it is not uncommon for prostitutes to swing by at night for work. Ruth is going to the threshing floor in the evening and will be there through the night. Naomi wants her to be so covered that there wouldn't be an assumption from others of what she’s offering.  

She’s essentially saying freshen up, smell nice, and layer up.  

Let me say this gently as an encouragement: Single sisters, you can be attractive without showing excessive skin. Brothers, don’t make skin your standard for beauty.  

Ruth is not to be seen by Boaz nor is she to disturb him while eating and drinking. But after he lies down to sleep, she is to take off his sandals and lie down next to his feet.  

It’s unclear if this is a common practice in Judah at the time but what we know is that throughout scripture having someone mess with another person’s feet is a sign of humility and servanthood.  

Whether the practice is common or not, Naomi is confident that Boaz will understand and tell Ruth what to do.  

She does not know what Boaz will do. And that’s what she must wait for. She can make assumptions based on Boaz's character, but she has no clue what he will actually do.  

Nonetheless, she was willing to take a faithful step. That’s what the book of Ruth is about: taking faithful steps and trusting God with each step.  

Naomi is asking Ruth to take a calculated risk. That’s nothing new to Ruth. She’s done it once. 

Where might God be calling you to take a faithful step, a calculated risk and wait?  

Ruth agrees and moves ahead with the plan.  

The Request – 3:6-9 

Ruth 3:6–9 CSB

She went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had charged her to do. After Boaz ate, drank, and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the pile of barley, and she came secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. At midnight, Boaz was startled, turned over, and there lying at his feet was a woman! So he asked, “Who are you?” “I am Ruth, your servant,” she replied. “Take me under your wing, for you are a family redeemer.”

She waited for Boaz to eat, rest, and sleep.  

It’s important to note in 3:7, that this was an outdoor interaction. Boaz slept on the threshing floor at the end of the pile of barley. This was not taking place in the dark night in a dark room. 

She moves quietly, gently uncovers his feet, and lies down.  

She obeys Naomi—and she waits. We don’t know how long she waited—but she waited, unsure how Boaz would respond.  

Will he reject her? Will he take advantage of her? Will he be happy to see her?  

She waits with uncertainty just like you and I, and just like Naomi.  

She doesn’t have guarantees, but she has God. She’s taken the faithful step and is trusting God in the step.  

That’s what gives us confidence in our waiting. The confidence that says “I’m trusting in God in this faithful step that I have taken.” 

You don’t need perfect clarity to trust a faithful God—you just need a faithful step. 

Boaz wakes up in 3:9 and says to her “who are you?” It’s midnight, so it’s probably too dark for him to clearly identify her.  She says, “I’m Ruth your servant, take me under your wing from you a family redeemer.” 

This verse is the reason we have been told multiple times that Boaz is a relative of Elimelech.  

Before I explain what it means to be a family redeemer, I want to notice Ruth’s choice of words.  

She says to Boaz, “take me under your wing.” That’s the same words Boaz said to her in 2:12, when he said she had come under the wings of God for refuge in Israel.  

She’s implicitly saying, would your wings be the wings by which God’s wings give me refuge? Would you be God’s wings for me? It’s a request for Boaz to be the answer to his own prayer for her.  

I hope I’m drilling that point home enough.  

Whatever your prayers are for Restoration Church, what can you do to take part in God answering that prayer? Whatever your prayers are for “fill in the blank”, has God provided the resource for you to be his answer to the prayer? 

Ruth tells him he is a family redeemer.  

In the early years of Israel, God gave instructions on how properties and people who have been sold because of debt can be redeemed. If a debtor sells himself or his property because he owed a debt he is unable to repay, then a family member can redeem him or his property by paying off the debt. 

The difficulty here is that Ruth is not a property that was sold. So, Boaz’s role as a redeemer should not technically extend to her.  

But it does in our text. It does because God gave another set of instructions for when a wife loses her husband without a child. The oldest brother of the husband must marry the widow to preserve the name of his brother through a child.  

Therefore, what we appear to have here then is a combination of both practices into one. 

Boaz’s action combines two laws—redeeming land that Elimelech sold before going to Moab and preserving a family line through marriage.  

We’ll hear more about the land in chapter 4.  

Ruth is requesting Boaz use his money to redeem the land and, in the process, acquire the rights to marry her.   

The Response – 3:10-18 

Ruth 3:10–18 CSB

Then he said, “May the Lord bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not pursued younger men, whether rich or poor. Now don’t be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever you say, since all the people in my town know that you are a woman of noble character. Yes, it is true that I am a family redeemer, but there is a redeemer closer than I am. Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, that’s good. Let him redeem you. But if he doesn’t want to redeem you, as the Lord lives, I will. Now lie down until morning.” So she lay down at his feet until morning but got up while it was still dark. Then Boaz said, “Don’t let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.” And he told Ruth, “Bring the shawl you’re wearing and hold it out.” When she held it out, he shoveled six measures of barley into her shawl, and she went into the town. She went to her mother-in-law, Naomi, who asked her, “What happened, my daughter?” Then Ruth told her everything the man had done for her. She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, because he said, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ” Naomi said, “My daughter, wait until you find out how things go, for he won’t rest unless he resolves this today.”

We see in 3:10-11 that Boaz agrees. He agreed wholeheartedly. He responds with kindness, humility, and honor.  

He was even surprised that she would want an old man like him.  

After his response comes the final wait.  

He informs Ruth that there’s actually a relative that would have the first claim as redeemer. 

I wonder if Naomi knew – but figured that guy was bad news and thought I prefer Boaz.  

He sends her back home with a gift for Naomi but also told Ruth in 3:14, Don’t let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.” That confirms what we mentioned earlier about the threshing floor being known for its prostitution.  

Ruth got home where Naomi had been waiting. She asks in 3:16, “what happened?” 

Ruth shared everything that took place and Naomi was comforted.  

But now they must wait to see how the matter will resolve. Will bad-news Billy step up or will noble Boaz be able to redeem Ruth and provide a refuge? 

They don’t know what will happen but they’ve done what they could. They’ve taken the necessary faithful steps and now they wait. Trusting in the God who provides, redeems, and governs all things.  

Conclusion 

As we wrap up, let me ask: What are you waiting for today? A job? A spouse? A breakthrough? A reconciliation? 

Waiting is hard. But it’s not passive. 

Ruth 3 reminds us: when we’ve taken faithful steps—not perfect ones—and anchored our hope in the God who provides, redeems, and governs all things, we can wait with confidence. 

Why? Because Jesus Christ has already secured our ultimate redemption. The cross is proof that even in the silence of waiting, God is at work for our good.