Got It Tough? - Sunday February 07, 2016
So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she worked. She said, "The man I worked with today is named Boaz." "May the Lord bless him!" Naomi told her daughter-in-law. "He is showing kindness to us, as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers." Ruth 2:19-20 NLT
Ruth was a woman, a widow, a foreigner, and young. You think you've got it tough? You think your life is hard? Ruth had it tougher. You couldn't be any more vulnerable than she was. Yet right here in the middle of the story, someone notices her. Ruth's life reveals that God is her provider and protector.
Boaz is a picture of our God. God notices you. Boaz noticed Ruth. Boaz here is described as a family redeemer. Other translations say kinsman redeemer. There's something poetic about those words. There's something that just kind of wells up inside me when I hear that phrase.
In Old Testament times this kinsman redeemer was someone who stood ready to deliver and protect. He was someone who made certain that no one in his family circle was ever lonely or destitute.
Most families today are so scattered geographically, and are so distant emotionally, that we have trouble even picturing any male relative stepping into such a role. I know that there are many young women and men today who have never had this kind of role model in their lives, someone who has protected them and provided for them, someone who has kept them safe.
Heroes of God, you have a heavenly Kinsman Redeemer who will do just that.
Submitted by:
Rory Whitney
Faithwalkers Midwest 2014
Ruth,
One-Year Reading Plan:
Exodus 26:1-27:21
Matthew 25:1-30
Psalms 31:1-8
Proverbs 8:1-11
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SCRIPTURE REFERENCB-ES: Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible B) The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy, Bible, New International Version, copyright B) 1973, 1978, 1984 by InternaB-tional Bible Society; (NKJV) are from New King James Version B) 1982 by Thomas Nelson; (NLT) are from the New Living Translation, B) 1996, Tyndale House Publishers; (ESV) are from English Standard VersionB., B) 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; (TM) are from The Message B) 1993 by NavPress Publishers.