Eyes Opened (read Ruth 2)

Greetings in Christ Jesus, my fellow soldiers.

Last week, we looked at Ruth 1 and asked the question "Am I alone?" Remember, the chapter came to a close with Naomi saying, in essence "I left full but have returned empty because of God." If she was right, then we as believers in a God who callously abandons His people amidst their misery are most to be pitied.

But we investigated Naomi's claims and discovered that God was for her, not against her. Blinded by her own sin, she (and her family) refused to repent to the Lord in their time of famine and left the "house of bread" (Bethlehem) and the God who gave manna for the land of Moab--a people specifically condemned by God for not giving His people bread in the wilderness. And Naomi's family suffered the fruit of their sin (the wages of which is death). Naomi wasn't only a sinner, however, but a sufferer. Her pain must have been so great! But the fact remains, she didn't leave full.

Nor did she return empty. In her time of greatest need, hardened to the God who alone is our provider, Naomi received an outpouring of His grace in fleshly form. She had Ruth, the great great great great great great great grandmother of Jesus, identifying with Naomi in her suffering and pledging herself to suffer for Naomi even to the point of death. Ultimately, this is what a sinner like me needs, grace in fleshly form (Jesus Christ) to live and die for me. Friends, we are not alone.

This week, we will witness the conversion/transformation of Naomi. With Ruth by her side, she arrives back in Bethlehem at the time of the barley harvest--a sign both of God relenting from His judgment (the famine is over) and of Naomi's new life (time of the first fruits). We see God moving the final chess pieces into place for His beloved child when we learn about her relative in v1, Boaz. He is her kinsman-redeemer, which basically means that he will be able to purchase her, at cost to himself, from her pitiful state (we'll learn more about in a later week).

For whatever reason (physical? psychological?), Naomi is unable to work. She is helpless. And again, Ruth comes to rescue. She offers to work on her mother's behalf--though she is an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous area for a foreign woman--and Naomi lets her go. We'll skip what happens to Ruth in the field and save that for our retelling of her story.

That night, a hurt, hardened Naomi finally had the walls of her heart collapse. Ruth came in, bearing an incredible load of food and barley. As Naomi notes, somebody must have looked upon Ruth's work with favor. She couldn't have been more right. That day, a helpless Naomi sent out the God-ordained suffering servant who was willing to die for her. That servant's work received favor, and as a result of that servant's work, a helpless Naomi found herself blessed.

When Naomi learned that the favorable man was Boaz, the tongue which had so recently cursed God now poured forth with blessing. She praised God's kindness through Boaz, and the fact that he (either God or God through Boaz) had not forsaken the living or dead. The God who she believed had abandoned her had never truly forsaken her. She was blind to His tender hand, but by His grace, she had a suffering servant, pledged to death, who did the work on her behalf for her life and blessing.

My friends, that is what we have in Christ Jesus. Like Ruth, He came at "just the right time" and "died for sinners." He not only identified with our suffering, but He also offered to God the perfect life and substitutionary death that we couldn't possibly offer, and which, at the end of the day, brought us life and blessing. Remember, "the wages of sin is death." This is what we had earned on our own accord. Yet Christ put in the wages of a perfect life, holy and pleasing to God, and then bore our wages. "He who knew no sin became sin, so we might be the righteousness of God."

Whether you are a believer or not, today is the day to drop the act--the vain attempts at self-righteousness, the pitiful belief in your own goodness. Today is the day to acknowledge that apart from the life and death of the God-man, Jesus Christ, you are lost. But praise be to God, "anyone who is in Christ Jesus in a new creation." Like Naomi, today is the day of new beginnings for those who in their helplessness have embraced the cross of Christ. And if we cling to that cross, today must be the day when our words of bitterness are transformed into songs of praise, in Jesus' name. Amen.